Best Friends
by Testing1234567
Summary: Dawn is living with her best friend Ash for the summer. But when Ash starts hanging out with Misty, Dawn starts feeling things she's never felt before. Can Dawn come to grips with her feelings and win Ash over, or is she doomed to the friend zone? AU, Pearlshipping. *Some Adult Themes*
1. As a Friend, Of Course

"Get up, Ash! You're going to be late!" I called, stepping out of the bathroom while brushing my hair.

"Mm? Gmmph mm hmm," he… responded? Not sure I could call it that.

I rolled my eyes. "Seriously, Ash, it's nine already. You have to be at the school by 9:30, or Misty is going to be mad at you…" I trailed off, smiling to myself.

"Nooo! Not the mallet!" Ash shot up from his bed so fast you'd think he'd been splashed with water. I giggled.

He grunted in annoyance as he heard me. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Dawn, you laugh, but you have no idea how scary that thing is." I giggled again, just to annoy him. He rolled his eyes. "You done with the bathroom?"

I gave my hair one last brush and inspected it. Perfect. "Yup. Have at it." He ran in as soon as I slipped out.

I laughed to myself. This scene might as well have been run on replay for the last few weeks. No matter how earnest Ash was about his work, waking up in a timely fashion would never be his strong suit. I idly wondered how his mother had dealt with the problem. Maybe I should ask her? I was going to be living with him for another several weeks, so it may be a worthwhile call to make.

I poured myself some cereal, musing over my situation with Ash.

The two of us had graduated high school together just a few weeks ago. We were going off to college in the fall, but over the summer we'd decided to stay in the town where we'd graduated. Ash was staying because he was working at a local summer camp. Since he'd been the star basketball player at our high school, he'd been invited as a coach to teach little kids to play. The job paid really well and the guy loved the game and helping others play it, so he didn't think twice before he accepted.

As for me, I'd been offered an internship at a fashion magazine. It paid ok, and it was my dream to enter the fashion world, so it was a no-brainer for me as well.

The thing is, we'd gone to a private high school far from our homes, so we'd always lived on campus. Since we'd graduated, though, we couldn't stay in our dorms anymore. My mom actually suggested that I come back home and try finding work there – that was how big a problem it'd been.

There were of course my best friends, who would have been more than happy to give me a place to stay. But May was from too far away, Leona was out of town helping with her parents' hot spring business, and although Kenny, Iris, Cilan, and Brock had all offered, they were all living with their families, and I felt bad barging in on them for two months.

That's when Ash had told me he was subletting Gary's apartment while Gary went out of town to intern with his grandfather. Gary was one of the few kids who'd lived off campus senior year. He had no real reason for it, but using his grandfather's influence, he'd pulled strings and done it. All of senior year, Gary's apartment was party central for his friends. Ash was over a lot, and I was invited quite a few times myself.

But the point is, it was super convenient. Since Gary had gotten the apartment in the fall and had leased it for the year, subletting it while he was away for the summer was to both his and Ash's advantage. And when Ash had told me, it was to my advantage, too.

I'd begged Ash to let me stay with him, promising to pay half the rent. He'd asked me if I was crazy.

You see, when I said Gary rented the apartment, I meant it… just Gary. He'd rented it for himself… and hence, it was a one bedroom apartment.

With one bed.

But I'd been over enough times to know that; I'd also been over enough times to know it was a _King-sized_ bed. Two people could easily sleep on it.

Actually, Gary had made sure it was King-sized for that reason. A famous womanizer, Gary rarely spent a night where he was the only inhabitant of that bed. Among his female friends though, the joke was he got a king-sized bed to make up for something… not so king-sized.

But I digress. Back to Ash and me. Obviously, Ash had called me crazy because we – members of opposite sexes – would have to share the bed, which was generally a problem for heterosexual people. Honestly, it would have been a problem for me, too, but here was the thing.

It was Ash.

Ash and I were best friends. Not best friends the way people threw the term around referring to someone slightly similar to them – best, best friends. We'd been through thick and thin, highs and lows, all together. Talking to others I would use the phrase "best friends" to refer to Ash, May, Iris, Brock, Cilan, Kenny, Leona, etc., but if you pushed the matter I wouldn't hesitate: Ash was my _best_ best friend. Hands down. When I entered high school I was pretty rigid about my personal space – sharing a bed with anyone, boy or girl, was out of the question. And that was still true to a certain extent now. But Ash was a friend that transcended the comfort zone I needed with most people. Sharing a bed? I could share a toothbrush with the guy.

Ok, no. That's disgusting. Eww. But you get the point.

Plus, it was Ash.

Ash wouldn't try anything on me. He wouldn't take advantage of any girl. Heck, I didn't know if Ash understood if girls were people you could even try things on.

Lastly, it was Ash.

My mother's major concern when I told her my plan was that there would 'romantic tension.' She claimed that if we had any feelings at all for one another, a combination of the emotional aspects of living together and the sexual tension involved with being around one another would cause those feelings to amplify real fast, and she told me the problems afterward would be a nightmare to deal with.

But Ash and I were best friends. Nothing less, but certainly nothing more. There wasn't an ounce of 'romantic tension' between us. All the emotional interplay from living together was handled by the strength of our friendship. As for sexual tension, there wasn't a drop. Ash and I ate, sat, and slept body against body, and there were no problems whatsoever. The good feelings of warmth and closeness we felt during those times were purely from how we felt about each other as friends. _I_ knew that at least. If Ash ended up developing feelings (HA) for me (notice the funny part is him developing romantic feelings at all), I'd just have to turn him down; knowing him, it wouldn't hurt our friendship at all. Let the record stand: I had no romantic or sexual feelings for Ash Ketchum in any way, shape, or form.

Mm. Speaking of sexual things.

I picked up my bowl of cereal and walked back to our bedroom. I glanced at my phone. 9:15. Right on time. I sat with my back against the bed's headboard, eating my cereal. Any moment now…

Sure enough, the bathroom door opened and Ash strolled out, a towel wrapped around his waist. He was wiping his hair with another towel as he walked to the dresser to grab some clothes.

I leaned forward slightly, slurping my cereal anxiously.

Like I said, Ash was the star basketball player at our school. I don't know whether it was the cause or the effect or some kind of confounded mechanism, but with those skills had come the body of a Greek god.

I continued to eat, watching the show blissfully. As he walked his abs rippled, the tight skin expanding and contracting over the packs of muscle. When he lifted his hands to his head, his cut pectoral muscles stretched up the sides of his chest to his shoulders; his hands came down, and the furrow between his pecs accentuated beautifully. When he reached his arms to tug his towel behind his neck, his biceps bulged against taut forearms; he leaned on his dresser, and cords of triceps extended up to his shoulders. As he bent down to rummage through a drawer, tight muscle appeared behind his shoulders and beneath his shoulder blades, extending in long mounds across his back. As he stood again to full height and his body loosened up, I could see how incredibly broad his shoulders were.

"Dawn, you have some milk dribbling down your chin," Ash said offhandedly, slipping back into the bathroom to get clothed.

I was so surprised I nearly spilled the rest of my cereal. I quickly wiped away the offending milk with my knuckles, cursing at having missed his obliques as he turned. He had some nice obliques.

I know this entire thing seems a little dicey, so I'll admit this outright: Ash was sexy. He just was. But just because I appreciated that didn't mean I had sexual _feelings _for him. I was a straight girl; if he was going to walk out of the bathroom every day showing off that much tight, toned glory, I was going to watch. But it didn't _mean_ anything. Really, no need to worry.

I finished my cereal and washed the bowl before readying Ash's breakfast. As the clock hit 9:20 the bathroom door opened, and shortly after Ash emerged from the bedroom, ready to go.

I held out a paper bag as Ash rushed by. He grabbed it, grinning. He didn't look inside. "The usual?"

"What else?" I quipped.

He left the apartment to start the car; I grabbed my things and got in as he shifted into gear and sped out of the parking lot. This was Gary's car, which he'd brought to town at the beginning of the year and left for Ash to use over the summer. It was quite convenient.

"Excited for work?" I asked.

He grinned, but kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah! Today I'm going to teach the kids to run while dribbling. If things go real well, I'll see if I can make a game out of it. They love to compete so much you wouldn't believe." I smiled; over the past few weeks I'd watched him take the kids in his class in like his own children. It would have been charming for anyone else to see, but I expected as much from Ash. "How about you?" he furrowed his brow. "Still working on that article?"

"Yup. Most writers can do a segment this short pretty fast, but since I'm an intern they're giving me a ton of time. And then it'll get reviewed a bunch before it gets out. But I pick up a lot around the office during that time, so it's good. A pretty relaxed pace but I still learn a lot, you know?"

"I hear ya. But your writing's awesome. If you're up to it, maybe you should ask if you can get your segment reviewed earlier."

"Maybe… The pace _is_ relaxed, but I can't say I'm not eager to be published. The editor-in-chief seems to be pretty impressed by my work so far… Maybe I'll try?"

"Do it. I want to buy at least two Poké Chic magazines with your name in them." He shrugged. "It would be awesome, at least. But go at whatever pace you feel most comfortable with."

I smiled inwardly. Ash always pushed all his friends to be the best they could be. But he made sure not to make anyone feel too uncomfortable about it. In my opinion, it was one of his best features.

"Thanks, Ash… Hey, you're going to the gym tonight, right? What do you want me to make for dinner?"

Since Ash had graduated and stopped playing competitive basketball, he had gotten restless and claimed he was getting out of shape (trust me, his Greek godliness had been well intact). Since he had a job at the school, they let him use the gym facilities after the camp was over for the day, so every other day – on the days he wasn't scheduled to cook – he exercised at the gym. It wasn't like he needed it, but according to my calculations his biceps had increased in circumference something like four centimeters; no self-respecting girl could say anything against such a phenomenon.

"Hmm… anything you feel like making is fine. As long as it's tasty… I know that can be hard for you but –"

I punched him in the shoulder lightly. He grinned. "Hey, I'm driving!"

"And tonight, I'm cooking. So watch your mouth if you don't want… Gah, is there anything you don't like to eat?"

Ash squinted thoughtfully. "No, not really, no."

I clicked my tongue. "Well then, I'll make you watch a chick flick tonight."

"You wouldn't…"

"Wouldn't I?"

"Let me tell you, ma'am, the worst of your cooking is like heaven in my mouth."

"That's more like it."

Ash pulled over in front of my office building. It was less than a ten minute drive by road (it was about the same by foot thanks to foot trails) and the school was maybe another minute or two away. He'd make it in time.

"Have a good time, Dawn!" He extended his hand, palm up.

"You, too, Ash! Tear up the court." I gave him our usual morning low five. I preferred our high fives, but I'd nearly broken my back trying to give him one in the car the first time we'd tried, so I reserved those for when I saw him back home.

I turned and walked into the office as he pulled away. Home? I laughed to myself. It hadn't even been a month, but living with Ash made the place seem so homely.

I strode into the office cheerfully, greeting the receptionist.

"Hey Marian, how are you?"

"Dawn! I'm good. Had a good weekend?"

"It was nice, yeah. Hey, I was wondering, is Hermione free?"

"Hmm, let me check her schedule… Yeah, she doesn't have anything scheduled now, so you can just walk in." Marian's brow furrowed. "You're not having any problems, right?"

I waved my hands in front of my face wildly. "No, no! I'm so happy with the way things are going." I twiddled my thumb nervously. "That's why I'm actually a little hesitant to ask. See, I was going to ask her if I could submit my segment early for review so maybe I could get to work on another one. I just want as much experience as I can while I'm here, and honestly I'd really like to get published. It's not like I think I'm an expert or anything! I want my work to be reviewed critically and everything, it's just –"

"You are the cutest thing, Dawn." Marian cut me off, smiling. I flushed. "Dawn, if you think you're ready, go in there and ask her. I've seen some of your work myself and I think it's magazine-ready. And if you still need some encouragement, Hermione doesn't exactly hate you, if you know what I mean." Marian winked.

I went behind the desk and hugged her. "I'm going in right now. Thanks so much, Marian!"

Marian hugged me back. "Go get 'em, girl!"

I walked back to where Hermione's office was and knocked on the door lightly. After a few seconds there was a muffled response. "Come in."

I opened the door and walked in, closing it behind me and turning to face Hermione with a smile. "Ah, Dawn, please, take a seat." I sat down in one of the two chairs in front of her desk. She leaned back in her own chair, knitting her hands in front of her chest and leaning back, looking at me with her intense, bespectacled eyes that seemed to allow her to see everything. "What can I do for you?"

I explained my request to her carefully, my knees jumping anxiously as I talked. When I finished I waited for her reaction.

There was a moment of unsure silence, and then Hermione smiled. "Wonderful. Since you showed me the earliest draft of your work I've been thinking about approaching you to ask if you wouldn't mind speeding your timetable up. I waited to see if you'd take the initiative, and you did. As an employee in the real world, you're going to need to make judgments about your own skill in relation to your current job in order to take initiative in the workplace and open up opportunities for yourself. Obviously there's risk involved, but here your judgment was flawless."

I beamed, sending a mental thank-you to Ash. He would get a very tasty dinner, and the movie tonight would most certainly not be a chick flick.

"How do another two segments sound?"

I snapped to attention. "T- Two? I'd love that! …I mean, if you really think I can handle it…"

Hermione shook a finger at me playfully. "Where's that confidence you walked in with? That's important in the workplace, too, you know." I smiled. "That's better. Of course I think you can handle it. How about you hand in your current segment to Raoul for review and get to work on the next one?"

I stood up happily. "That sounds great. Thank you so much, Hermione!"

She smiled softly. "Sure thing. I'll ask Raoul to pass me your segment as well and I'll send you my comments. Good luck on your next segment in the meanwhile."

I thanked her again and left her office, feeling incredibly bubbly. Two more segments! That would mean Ash would get to buy three magazines with my name in them before the summer was over. I couldn't wait to tell him.

Once I passed my segment in to Mr. Contesta (he again reminded me to just call him Raoul – but it was weird to think an older man so informally), I sat down and got to work. The next few hours passed quickly amidst working at my desk and chatting with everyone in the office about the current fashions. When lunch rolled around a few of the girls asked me out with them, and I accepted gleefully.

We walked out of the office and down the main road through the town. I noticed we were heading toward the high school and wondered if I could drop in and see Ash. He usually ate lunch there, so maybe I could introduce him to everyone. Plus I wanted to tell him as soon as possible about –

"Hey, isn't that your roommate Ash?" Zoey said suddenly.

"Huh?" My head snapped up to look at where Zoey was pointing. We were standing outside a cute little café maybe a block from the high school. Zoey was motioning through the glass.

Sure enough there was Ash, sitting at a table. I smiled instinctively, about to run in and say hi, when I noticed the table was set for two. My brow furrowed as I try to get a better look at who it was sitting across from him. Brock? Cilan?

"Dawn, who's that girl? You never said your roommate was dating someone." Solidad inquired curiously.

I finally saw that it was Misty who was sitting across from Ash. I stared, turning Solidad's words over in my head. Ash… dating Misty? No way. Ash, despite what felt like hundreds of suitors, had never had a single girlfriend in high school. No way had that changed in the last few weeks.

But Ash hadn't said _anything_ about taking Misty to lunch. We told each other _everything_. Pretty much up until the color and style of our undergarments, we consulted and discussed about every part of each other's lives.

Which was why seeing Ash and Misty eating lunch together hit me like a ton of bricks. It either meant he thought it wasn't important enough to mention to me, which was a very small category of things and not one in which I would put this, or it was _too_ important to tell me, which was a thought that made me suddenly feel like throwing up.

"Dawn? You ok? You don't look too good." This must have been true, because Jessilina, who rarely spoke to me, had said it.

"N- No need to worry!" I said as cheerily as I could. I couldn't say anything else. I felt pretty off-kilter, although I knew I was overreacting. What did it matter whom Ash ate with?

"Let's find another place to eat, guys." Zoey suggested. Normally I would hate the idea of causing a hindrance to the group, but I didn't say anything. As I followed the group, I pulled out my phone and texted Ash, no longer able to hold myself back.

_12:45 PM Me: Heeeeelloo :) __What are you up to?_

I sighed, putting away my phone and following the group into another café close by. I took a deep breath. It didn't matter, it didn't matter, it didn't –

My phone buzzed. I whipped it out so fast I nearly dropped it.

_12:46 PM Ash: Heyyy :) __Just having lunch._

I frowned. Why wasn't he –

_12:46 PM Ash: I came to a café off campus w/Misty b/c the 2 of us have don't have to supervise kids today. You?_

I sighed in relief and the three girls looked at me strangely. I flushed and apologized, turning back to my phone.

_12:48 PM Me: Came downtown with a few of the girls for lunch. Haha that's cool, havin fun?_

_12:48 PM Ash: Sure am. Did you ask Hermione about your work?_

_12:49 PM Me: Sure did! I'll tell you all about it at home!_

_12:49 PM Ash: Yeah plz… Misty's threatening to take out her mallet if I don't put this away… See you at home, Dawn!_

_12:50 PM Me: Stay in one piece, then... :D See you, Ash!_

I sighed involuntarily and flushed again as the others looked at me. "S – Sorry about that…"

Zoey put an arm around my shoulders casually. "Don't even worry about it. Though that is the first time I've ever seen you get worked up about anything…"

We ordered and headed back to the table. I decided they at least deserved some kind of explanation. "Yeah… Ash and I are really close, so, well, seeing him out for lunch with someone when I know nothing about it…"

I trailed off, feeling stupid suddenly. Jessilina capitalized on it, smirking. "Makes you feel insecure?"

I squirmed uncomfortably. Solidad nudged Jessilina lightly. "She's obviously being serious. Be a little sensitive. Not everyone's as rough and distant with their friends as you are."

Jessilina looked resentful of this statement and quickly shot back, turning it into a full-fledged argument. I joined in when appropriate, just glad that the conversation had turned away from me.

On our way back I looked into the café to see that Ash and Misty had already left. I realized finally that it really was just a lunch date and not an actual date. See, self? Ash wouldn't be doing something like that without telling me. No need to worry.

The rest of the day passed relatively plainly. At 5 I left work, grabbed a few things from the grocery store nearby, and got home by 5:30. The camp ended for the kids around 3, but between clean-up, next day prep, and meetings, Ash didn't get out until around 4. Since he was working out today, he likely wouldn't be back until 6.

I hummed as I made dinner. Baking was my stronger suit, but cooking was pretty fun, too. The time passed fast. Before I knew it I heard the front door open. I grinned.

"Hey, Ash!" I yelled.

After a few moments Ash sauntered into the kitchen and sniffed around, smiling happily. "Pasta, huh?" he lifted a hand up, palm toward me.

I smiled and turned, giving him a full, resounding high-five. "Ehh… Seven out of ten, you can do better…"

I kicked at him playfully. "Get out of here, you reek."

He chuckled and walked off to shower. Unfortunately he took lightning-fast showers in the evening, so I never could catch him getting dressed while making dinner. Ah, well. I suppose at least I wasn't spoiled.

"By the way, Ash," I yelled out to him, "I'm thinking from tomorrow onwards I'll pack lunch for the both of us. I picked up some groceries today so we have everything we need. It'll save us both money in the long run, don't you think?"

"That's fine with me. I don't really like leaving the kids to eat out anyway, even if I don't have to supervise." He yelled back. "Well, it's fine as long as you pack something tasty, but I know how hard…" He trailed off as I assumed he went into the bathroom, but I could imagine the end of the sentence. I giggled.

I set the table just as Ash came out, dressed in his nightclothes, hair still damp. He rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Looks awesome, Dawn! Can we start?" He sat down at the table.

I rolled my eyes. "Go ahead and get started, Ash. Where'd you put your towel?"

"On the rack, duh."

"On the bed, got it."

I grabbed Ash's towel off the bed and came back to see him inhaling his food. There was no better feeling than seeing someone enjoy your cooking, but really, did he even taste anything when it was going down his throat that fast?

I put the towel on Ash's head and rubbed at his hair thoroughly to get it dry, trying not to disturb his eating. "I'm not going to keep doing this, you know. I'm going to stop doing this one day and you're going to get a cold."

Ash guffawed between bites of his food. "You've been saying that for the past three weeks."

I grunted, trying not to let on that I enjoyed mothering him.

During dinner I told Ash about what'd happened at work. He slammed the table and grinned widely, stopping his eating for a moment.

I considered myself promoted to minor deity. It took some level of godliness to stop Ash eating during a meal.

"Congrats, Dawn! I knew you could do it! That's awesome!"

I flushed. Ash gave me the most praise out of everyone I knew, but it never got old or boring. "Thanks a lot, Ash – I really owe it to you for –"

"That's bull, give yourself some credit for once, Dawn. How about this? To celebrate, we can watch a… a… ch… chi… I can't say it. You know what I mean."

I laughed so hard I almost spit food out of my mouth. Once we'd cleared the table and washed the dishes, we sat down to pick a movie.

I didn't pick a chick flick, choosing instead to restore Ash's faith in life by picking an action movie. As the movie started, I snuggled into Ash's side, digging my head into his chest. His arm moved around my shoulders and the familiar feeling of warmth washed through me as he held me to his body.

Warmth of friendship, just to be clear.

As the movie progressed we kind of gave up on having form or keeping ourselves upright. Ash slowly fell into a lying position with his head on the armrest of the couch; I accommodating the length of his body by slipping on top of him and putting my head flat on his chest.

So, so warm.

As the movie neared its end I confirmed I knew how it would conclude and promptly closed my eyes, assuming normal sleeping behavior.

As the credits rolled, Ash tapped me gently on the shoulder. "Dawn?" he whispered.

I did my best not to grin. I must have been successful, because after a few more attempts he just sighed and laughed. "Classic Dawn," he muttered to himself.

I moved my arm to my face naturally to make it look like I was sleeping while stifling a laugh.

Slowly and carefully, Ash slipped out from underneath me and used his arms to turn me over, then picking me up in his arms bridal style. A contented sigh escaped me involuntarily.

I heard him chuckle slightly and move to our bedroom, closing the door behind him with his foot. He moved to my side of the bed and placed me down softly, like a feather on a bed of clouds.

He pulled his arms out from under me and, assuming we were disengaged, tried to stand up abruptly. I still held the front of his shirt, though, and I grasped it tightly and rolled over sharply, pulling him over me.

"Hey – oomph, geez," he whispered. His reflexes and strength allowed him to stop himself before he crushed me, instead using his hands to push himself over me to his side of the bed. I still held his shirt. As he settled in, I snuggled closer to him.

Using my hold on his shirt as a guide, I moved my head into the crook under his chin and then moved my other hand to rest with the one holding his shirt, sandwiched between our bodies. Then I started squirming on and off.

This probably seems extensive and not altogether believable as a routine. But to be perfectly blunt, Ash was gullible enough that I'd done this for most of three weeks without him realizing I was awake.

As for how extensive it was, it had to be to get what I wanted.

I continued to squirm erratically until Ash sighed. "I don't know what kind of sleeping disease you have, Dawn, but it's awfully funny this cures it."

Ash reached his arms around me, pulling my form close to his and enveloping me in his embrace. I stopped squirming. Warmth flooded over me, and I sighed in contentment once more. There was no better position in which to sleep – except maybe spooning front to back, but I'd only gotten him to do that once and he seemed really hesitant.

But seriously, this was where it was at. It was such a relaxing position. No matter what time I slept, I would always awake relaxed. The warmth was so complete I could barely stay awake if I wanted to… But I had to hold on until –

"Good night, Dawn. Sleep tight." Ash whispered.

_Good night, Ash. Don't let the bedbugs bite._ I smiled into his chest, feeling warmer and more loved than ever.

As a friend, of course.

* * *

><p>Author's Note<p>

Next Update: 11/25/14, 4:00 AM UTC


	2. A Date?

"Eight out of ten. Eh, at least you're getting better," Ash quipped after I gave him our morning low-five.

I pushed his shoulder lightly in mock irritation, opening the car door and stepping out. "You do remember you're in charge of dinner tonight, right?"

Ash grinned. "No need to worry, m'am. Got it all under control."

This would be far from true any time before a month ago, but before the school year had ended Ash had taken cooking lessons from Brock, and his skills had improved considerably. At least from what I knew from the past few weeks. But I still had a small fear that I'd come home one night to an exploded kitchen or some kind of meat showcase.

"That's when I worry the most," I grumbled.

Ash snorted. "Talk about role reversal. Anyway, I _do_ have it under control. See you back home?"

Despite the ever-present fear in a corner of my mind, I did trust him. "See you back home!" I waved as he drove off.

I greeted Marian cheerily as I walked in, and then immediately made my way to my desk to work. Hermione had given me a huge opportunity, and I wasn't about to waste it.

When it was almost time for lunch, the girls, having apparently decided to take a group break, made their way over to harass me. I say 'harass' because Jessilina had come with them voluntarily… which could only mean I was about to get made fun of.

"Did you handle the brat for cheating on you?" Jessilina said, crossing her arms and smirking.

I was expecting teasing, but was a bit taken aback by what she said. Was that really how I'd reacted?

I composed myself quickly. "What are you talking about? Ash is just a friend… He can see whomever he wants." I had to make the statement, but I knew I was digging a hole for myself.

Sure enough, Zoey jumped on the 'make-fun-of-Dawn' bandwagon. "As long as he tells you first, though, right?"

I flushed lightly, remembering how upset I'd been yesterday and feeling slightly foolish for it. "W-Well, we _are_ best friends! I should be told about stuff like that before hand!" I looked to Solidad for support.

I knew I was finished when Solidad grinned mischievously. "So you can make your sabotage plans?"

I flushed more deeply, cursing myself for being so emotional yesterday. Why had I overreacted so badly anyway?

Apparently Zoey saw that I was brooding seriously and sympathized. "Alright, alright, that's enough teasing. We know how close you are to him. It's just so easy to make fun of you for it because it's so unusual for a guy and a girl to be so close but not get involved with one another."

I beamed proudly. "Ash and I are special."

"Yeah, yeah," Jessalina waved a hand at me dismissively.

Solidad laughed. "Anyway, want to get lunch again today, Dawn?"

I held up the paper bag with my lunch halfheartedly. "Well, Ash and I decided to start packing our lunches from now on, so I already have mine. But I'd love to go with you guys."

I looked at them with a smile but was met with surprise plastered over their faces. "What? Did I say something weird?"

"Dawn," Solidad said slowly, "this is the first time you've ever packed lunch."

I scrunched my eyebrows together and laughed. "Yeah. So what?"

Zoey picked it up. "You've never packed lunch before, and you and Ash suddenly up and decide to pack lunch every day, that's what."

I threw my hands up in a 'What's your point?' motion.

Jessilina rolled her eyes. "Yesterday you see the brat out at a café with another girl, and suddenly the two of you decide to pack lunch every day. I'd bet my job you were the one who suggested it."

I paled.

Solidad was staring at me with bemusement on her face. "Are you telling me you didn't do it on purpose?"

I waved my hands in front of my face wildly. "N-No way! It just occurred to me when I left for work yesterday that it'd be a good way to save money for us! So I dropped by the grocery store afterwards and suggested it to Ash when he got home…" I was listening to it as I said it, and boy did it sound lame.

"It sounds to me like you subconsciously want to keep other girls away from Ash," Solidad said, crossing her arms.

I stared back at her. That was ridiculous! Ash had even told me that he wasn't out on a date with Misty! Subconscious or not, there would be no reason to be jealous then.

Not that I would be jealous even if he had been out on a date with her.

Zoey slung an arm around my shoulder, pushing her face up close to mine. "Looks like we have a lot to talk about. The three of us are going to grab something from the place next door - we'll meet you in the lunchroom in a few, ok?"

Before I could pull myself together to give a response they were gone. I rubbed my sweaty palms against my skirt.

They were reading too much into this. This was all coincidence. Ash and I were best friends. Period.

I was concentrating hard, trying to convince myself that this was irrefutably true, when the telephone at my desk rung suddenly, making me jump. I swallowed and picked up the phone. "H-Hello?"

"Dawn, hey."

"Marian! What's up?"

"You got a visitor here for you. Mind coming to the front desk?"

A visitor? "Yeah, I'll be right there. Thanks." I hung up and stood up, tidying myself up and walking towards the front of the office.

A visitor for me? Was it Ash? Maybe he felt bad about what happened yesterday and came to eat with me today to make up for it. I mentally slapped myself. What did he have to feel bad for? That definitely wasn't it.

As I reached the front and the visitor came into view, I breathed a sigh of disappointment. Sure enough, it wasn't Ash.

I was mentally reprimanding myself for being disappointed at all when I realized who it actually was. I blinked.

"Kenny?"

Kenny had been sitting down, looking at the wall absentmindedly. When he heard me, he jumped up and turned to me. "Hey, Dawn!"

"Hey! Long time, no see." The last time I'd seen Kenny was at a graduation party; if I remembered correctly, I'd told him then that I was grateful for his offer, but I couldn't intrude on his family for two months, and that I'd decided to live with Ash. He'd just walked off, pretty upset. I didn't know what to make of it, and we hadn't talked since.

"Yeah, it has been a while." He approached me and opened his arms for a hug. I noticed he was blushing lightly, though I couldn't imagine why. Since when was Kenny so shy? I hugged him briefly.

"So? What brings you here?" I asked curiously.

"Uhh well, you mentioned you'd be working here over the summer so I dropped in to say hi, maybe see if we could go out for lunch or something?"

It was a little weird to me that we weren't going to talk about what happened at the graduation party. But Kenny and I had been friends since childhood, and in the bigger scope of things it wasn't the type of tiff that changed anything.

"Hmm," I mulled it over. "Just now I agreed to have lunch with some of the girls at work…"

I was about to suggest another day for lunch when Kenny cut in. "Dinner?"

I was slightly taken aback by his eagerness. He must've caught the surprise on my face because he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry for being pushy, I just wanted to talk to you about something as soon as possible. It's not an emergency, but the sooner the better…" He trailed off awkwardly.

"Well, I already told Ash he'd be cooking for both of us tonight…" Was it just me, or did Kenny's face darken a shade?

"Can't you just tell Ash to cook for himself so the two of us can go out?" Kenny said bluntly.

I bristled, but caught myself before I snapped back. I didn't know what kind of problem Kenny had with Ash, but as long he wasn't talking smack about Ash I could put up with it for the sake of our longtime friendship.

Normally I wouldn't even consider blowing Ash off, but I was getting the distinct feeling this was some sort of ultimatum by Kenny. If I turned him down on the basis of going home and eating dinner with Ash, I was pretty sure the damage to our friendship was irreparable.

I still felt bad about it, but I knew Ash would understand completely and that he wouldn't hold it against me. "I guess I could do that," I said slowly.

Kenny brightened visibly. "Great! What time do you get off work?"

"5."

"Cool. I'll pick you up then and we'll go out?"

"Alright."

"I'll text you when I pull up. See ya then, Dawn!" Kenny waved, backing up.

"See ya." I waved back, and he turned heel and left.

I sighed and turned around to see Marian looking at me curiously. "W-What?"

She broke out into a smile. "Popular with the boys, are we?"

I laughed loudly. "Kenny? We're really old friends, that's all."

Marian rolled her eyes. "Maybe that's how you feel, but I'd bet Kenny there feels a little differently."

I assured her this was not the case, to which she shrugged in a 'I don't know' sort of sense. I shook my head and strode back to my desk, pulling out my cell phone.

_12:34 PM Me: Heyyy Ash, I have to tell you something but you can't be mad, ok?_

I closed my phone and looked at it anxiously, waiting. After a few minutes, the girls came back and we went to the lunchroom to eat. I was pulling out my food when my phone buzzed.

_12:43 PM Ash: Please don't tell me we're watching 'Titanic' again tonight…_

I laughed out loud, causing the three girls to look at me abruptly. I apologized sheepishly before my phone buzzed again.

_12:44 PM Ash: Seriously though, I won't be mad. What is it?_

_12:44 PM Me: Kenny swung by and asked me out to dinner to catch up. … I said ok… But only if it's cool w/ you! I can call if off if you want…_

_12:44 PM Ash: Kenny! Haha why would I be angry at that? It's been a while since you've seen him, right? Go for it. Tell him I said hi too, btw._

I stared at message silently, feeling a little put off. Some sliver of me was wondering why he wasn't reacting the way I'd reacted when I'd seen him out with Misty.

I shook it off. The reason I'd reacted that way was because he hadn't told me about it. I was telling him, so obviously there'd be no reason for him to get worked up.

I sighed. I still couldn't shake off the feeling.

_12:46 PM_ _Ash: Is he giving you a ride or you need me to swing by?_

The way he was treating it so… casually… just upset me for some reason.

_12:47 PM Me: He's giving me a ride. You sure you're going to be ok?_

_12:47 PM Ash: Lol Dawn, it's one dinner. Plus this means more food for me! ;)_

I grunted, unsurprised. _That_ was obviously what was on his mind.

_12:48 PM Me: Or you could just cook a regular-sized portion for yourself like a normal human being…_

_12:48 PM Ash: Where's the fun in that? The real challenge is cooking for the two of us and me eating it all. :D_

_12:49 PM Me: You're a monster._

_12:49 PM Ash: Aw, shucks._

I giggled to myself.

_12:50 PM Ash: Well, I gotta get back to the kids. See you late, then?_

_12:50 PM Me: Go get 'em. See you tonight!_

I sighed as I put my phone away. The clearing of several throats snapped me to attention.

"So?" Zoey asked curiously. "Who was that?"

"Yeah," Solidad chimed in, "it looked like a ton of emotions were going across your face."

"Marian told us you're going out for dinner with some guy Kenny tonight. Think you're hot stuff?" Jessalina asked belligerently.

I decided not to open up a can of worms by answering Zoey or Solidad, instead turning to Jessalina. "He's an old friend. We're just going to catch up."

"When you say friend," Zoey followed up, "you mean friend the way you mean Ash is your friend?"

Solidad giggled and I felt distinctly like I was missing something. "Sure… Although Ash is a much closer friend."

"_Much_ closer," Solidad emphasized pointedly, winking at Zoey.

"Bet you two get pretty 'close' in that one bedroom apartment," Jessalina looked me up and down disdainfully. "Although I can't imagine what about that stick body could possibly turn him on."

I blushed deeply, about to retort, when Zoey spoke up. "'_You sure you're going to be ok?_' You're going out for one dinner, not leaving him for a month to go abroad."

I looked down at the table to see my phone gone, and saw Zoey waving it at me teasingly. "You don't mind if I help myself, do you?"

I grabbed at it lightly. "G-Give it back, Zoey!"

"Uh-uh. Not until I get to the bottom of this." Zoey pulled away easily. "Well, looks like you have pretty innocent conversations, though I would say you're a little bit flirtatious –"

"Give me that," Jessalina grabbed the phone out of Zoey's hands. Solidad, who was the most formal and respectful out of the three, wasn't looking at the contents of my phone, but she was giggling to herself. I groaned.

Jessalina was pushing at my screen thoughtfully. "If you brats really are going at it, then we should be looking for some racy photos…"

Photos?

I felt the blood suddenly rush to my face. I stood up, grabbing at my phone more aggressively. "Hey! Don't go in there! Give it back!"

Jessalina stepped back nimbly, grinning. "Well, that just about says it all. Let's see… Aha!"

I froze at her cry of victory. She was now looking at the phone appreciatively. "Well, I was hoping the evidence would be more implicating, but this certainly makes up for that."

She put the phone down on the table for Zoey and Solidad to see. I was so embarrassed Jessalina had already seen it that I sat down in my chair hard, not bothering to stop the other two from looking.

Zoey let out a low whistle, staring at the picture of a shirtless, towel-clad Ash that occupied my phone screen. "You said he was a basketball star… You didn't say he was a hunk."

Solidad was trying to respect my privacy, but she glanced at the picture quickly and then did a double take. A slight blush came to her face. "N-Not bad at all."

I finally gathered myself and stole my phone back. "I took the photo purely for blackmail purposes." I said as calmly as possible. "I was going to post it later and have some fun with it!"

Jessalina snorted. "You were going to have fun with it alright."

I blushed deeply. Solidad also turned slightly red (she was the most innocent of the three), and finally decided a line had been crossed. "Jessalina! Give Dawn the benefit of the doubt."

I groaned to myself. Why was there a doubt at all?

Zoey was frowning thoughtfully. "Hey, we were looking for some models earlier this month. With a body and face like that, Ash would've been perfect. Why didn't you suggest him? The pay was awesome, too."

I poked at my lunch stubbornly. "I love our magazine, but no way I'm letting Ash model for us. You know what we do! We do show off the pants, but it's the guy's half-nakedness that gets girls' attention."

Zoey raised an eyebrow at this and was about to respond, when there was a knock at the lunchroom door. It was Marian. "Solidad, Zoey, Jessilina, Hermione's waiting for you for the meeting."

The three girls shot up, glancing at the clock anxiously.

"Little brat distracted me," Jessilina announced, hurrying out quickly. Zoey and Solidad were on her heels.

I sighed, glad that the confrontation was over, and gathered my trash up, ready to go back to work.

Zoey's head suddenly popped in. "Hey Dawn, you have my number, right? Make sure you send me a copy of that photo. I could have some fun with it, too." She winked and disappeared.

I was about to yell bloody murder after her, but Solidad's face popped in the doorway just then. She was touching her long brown hair self-consciously. "Uhh, if you send it to Zoey, send it to me, too, okay? Uhh… thanks Dawn!" She disappeared quickly.

I slumped in defeat.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally.

Although Jessilina did make sure to pass by my desk often and say 'Oh, Ash!' in a mock sensual voice. And Zoey kept asking me if I'd sent her the picture yet. Not to mention Solidad, who came by holding up her cell phone right next to my desk as if to check whether she had service, and then walking away with a puzzled look on her face, presumably at not having received a message from me.

Other than that, it was pretty normal.

Just past 5 my phone buzzed.

_5:01 PM Kenny: I'm here! You ready to go?_

I looked over my work and decided I'd accomplished a good amount for the day. I put my stuff away and got my desk sparkling clean.

_5:03 PM Me: Yup! I'm coming out right now._

I said by to the girls on my way out, stopping in front of the building to see Kenny idling at the curb in a slick blue convertible. He waved at me. I smiled and got into the passenger seat.

"Hey, Kenny." I looked him over and saw that he'd dressed up in slacks and a dress shirt, with his hair kept better than usual. I gave him a thumbs-up. "I have to say, you look handsome."

Kenny's face brightened as if I'd told him he'd won the lottery. I noticed a slight red tinge his cheeks. "Th-Thanks, Dawn! You look great yourself!" he said earnestly.

I laughed slightly. "I'm wearing my regular clothes, silly. But thanks."

Kenny was looking at me like I'd misunderstood what he said, but he didn't follow up on it. "So, I got us a reservation at this nice Italian place a little ways out of town – you'll love it."

We started talking, catching up on what'd been going on the last few weeks. Kenny seemed especially interested in my home life with Ash, which was surprising. Based on how upset he'd been when he found out I'd be living with Ash, I thought he would skirt the topic.

After maybe 15 minutes we pulled up in front of a really fancy restaurant. Kenny parked and turned the car off. "Let's go in," he said.

I got out of the car, staring. When Kenny had asked to go out to dinner to catch-up, I'd thought it'd be fast food or pizza. I'd been surprised when Kenny said he made reservations at all, but this place was _really_ nice. Like the kind of place you'd go to for a birthday or anniversary.

I froze.

Did Kenny think this was a date?

* * *

><p>Author's Note<p>

Apologies for the delay.

Next Update: 11/27/14, by 11:00 PM UTC


	3. No Idea Why

There was no way. I shook the thought off as soon as it came up. There was still the question of the nice restaurant, but I didn't say anything because Kenny seemed pretty eager and I didn't want to seem unenthusiastic. I followed him in; a waiter showed us to a table set for two.

"So, Kenny…" I decided to get straight to the point. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Kenny squirmed nervously. "Uhh, I'll get to it. Why don't we order?"

I squinted at him suspiciously, but he'd already dug his nose in the menu so I decided to go along with it.

After a few minutes a waiter came by and took our orders. While we waited, Kenny and I talked more about what'd been going on in our lives, sharing small stories and laughs often. It was laidback and reminiscent of the old friendship I'd had with him. But beneath his laughs and storytelling, I caught a tenseness in his shoulders.

The tightness became especially pronounced, and Kenny took a deep breath and spoke suddenly.

"Dawn… Have you been sleeping with Ash?"

…

The question shocked me on a number of levels. What angered me, though, wasn't that he'd had the audacity to ask such a thing – though it crossed my mind – but that he'd blurted it out without an ounce of tact or awareness. He'd completely ignored that a waitress was coming up to our table and he'd spoken loudly enough for the woman to hear. My cheeks smoldered as the waitress dropped off our food, head bowed, and then left quickly.

"Kenny!" I hissed. "Watch your voice!"

I can vouch for Kenny as a thoughtful and good guy. Trust me, I really can. But for some reason he wasn't himself right now.

"Answer the question."

I stared at his face, set as cold as ice. Half of me wanted to not respond; friend or not, he was being inconsiderate of my privacy and pressuring me unfairly. But the other half of me valued Kenny as a friend, and that part understood that this question must be really important to him if it affected his demeanor so much.

"Only if you keep your voice down and be a little more considerate from now on." I gave him a pointed look and didn't budge until I got a nod.

I sighed. "The apartment only has one bed, so we've been sharing it. I've been sleeping _on it_ with him, but no, I haven't been sleeping _with_ him." I blushed at the last thought and shook it off, looking at Kenny icily. "Happy?"

Kenny sat back in his chair and exhaled in obvious relief. I stared at him. Why was that even on his mind?

Before I could ask him, a thought suddenly occurred to me. Why hadn't _I_ been more surprised at the question? Ash and I were strictly friends after all, so that question should have come out of left field. But I'd been angry that I'd been asked it, not surprised.

Or maybe I was overanalyzing it. I mentally shook a fist at Jessilina, Zoey, and Solidad. They'd seriously messed me up.

"-awn? Dawn?" I snapped up to see Kenny staring at me. "You ok?"

"Yeah!" I responded quickly, caught off guard. I cursed; it would be awkward to return to the topic of his question now.

We ate dinner in relative silence. After we finished our entrees and ordered dessert, the tension between us dissipated and we returned to talking about what was going on in our lives. When we were completely done with our meals, Kenny cleared his throat, ending our ongoing conversation rather abruptly. I raised an eyebrow.

He was looking around nervously. "About that thing I wanted to tell you…"

I pushed my finished plates forward and clapped my hands together. "Ah, finally! I was wondering when you would come to it."

I looked at him expectantly. He looked around nervously a little more, and then finally looked at me head on and blurted all at once: "Willyoubemygirlfriendplease?"

I blinked. "What?"

Kenny took a deep breath. "Do you want to be my girlfriend, Dawn?"

…

For the second time in less than an hour he'd asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks.

Kenny… liked me?

It clicked.

Being upset that I'd turned him down to live with Ash. Getting angry at almost turning him down for dinner with Ash. Dressing so well for this dinner. Telling me I looked good when I hadn't even dressed up. Bringing me to such a high end restaurant. Getting worked up over whether I'd been intimate with Ash.

I was literally an idiot. I made a mental note to apologize for doubting Marian earlier.

I sighed, focusing on the matter at hand. How could I let Kenny down easily? After all, I'd never felt for him that way. He was a close friend and a good guy on all accounts, but not a man who'd ever made me feel warm and gooey inside. Not a man I wanted to hold me or to be with me always. I simply didn't feel any of those things for Kenny.

"Kenny…" I said with much difficulty, hoping he might catch on. He leaned forward, looking at me expectantly.

I sighed. No way around it. I decided to go with a safe, cliché response. "I'm sorry Kenny, but I don't feel that way about you. I still want to be your close friend, but I can't be your girlfriend."

A breadth of emotions flashed across Kenny's face. Shock, realization, anger, desperation.

"You said I was handsome…" Kenny said lamely. A second later he cringed, realizing how pitiful it sounded.

I prevented myself from wincing visibly and tried to play it off as a fair argument for his sake. "I'm so sorry about that. I wasn't leading you on, I just had no idea you did it to impress me that way. It was a passing thought, and I mentioned it to show you that I appreciated how hard you worked for our night out. But I was sure it was a night out as friends…"

He turned a little red, and I realized he'd thought of this as a date. I felt like banging my head against the table. And I called Ash dense.

"I… I understand." Kenny said after a long pause. "If you don't feel that way about me, there's nothing I can do about it."

I thanked the heavens he was taking it so well.

"I still don't think he's better than me… But if you really feel that way about _him_, fine."

Wait, what?

"The two of us have known each other so much longer… But he walked in and you two were like long-lost lovers… I was so jealous of how well you got along with him."

Now it was clear he was talking about Ash. I flushed lightly.

"Didn't help that the stinking guy was so likable. Always, always said hi to me, gave me tips when he saw me struggling with basketball in gym, told me I was his friend because I was your friend. I don't think I've ever liked and disliked a person so much at the same time."

That sounded about right. I appreciated hearing him say that about Ash, though I was a little resentful he was justifying my rejection of his advances using Ash as part of the excuse.

"I swear, if you'd told that guy you were having dinner with me tonight, he probably would have told you to say hi on his behalf. It's almost annoying."

I sweatdropped, remembering that Ash had indeed told me to say hi to Kenny for him. I decided this probably wasn't the best time for that.

"But I guess you're like that, too. Which is probably why you two are perfect for each other." I blushed again. I wanted to protest that he had the wrong idea completely, but I was so tired of making the argument to everyone, especially after what happened at work. I also didn't want to get in the way of his reconciliation process.

And sue me if I was enjoying what he was saying the teensiest bit.

Kenny stopped his rant and focused on me again. "Even so, it'll take a while for me to get over you, Dawn…"

I gulped. I didn't know how to handle this. I hated the idea of him pining for me when I felt nothing, but what could I do about it?

A light bulb went off. I'd no doubt Kenny had been genuinely interested in me as a whole person, but he had always been a little fixated on looks. In retrospect, a lot of his blushing around me had been when I'd worn cute outfits or I asked him how I looked in the mornings (which, now that I think about it, had come across as flirtatious).

I didn't have anything against the type of guy whose interest in a girl was piqued by the way she looked. In fact, it was natural in a romantic relationship. And it could come in pretty handy here.

Well, here goes. "Sorry about that, Kenny, but is it possible… there's someone else you might have some feelings for?"

I crossed my fingers. This would either go really well or blow up in my face. It was a little rude to ask, but hopefully…

Kenny was looking at me guardedly. "Dawn, I was really serious about you…"

"I know, and I appreciate that. But now that I'm behind you, you're telling me there's _nobody_ else...? Not the teensiest bit?"

At the 'I'm behind you' bit, Kenny seemed to loosen up a little. Now he was blushing. "Uhh, I guess I always thought of Ursula as kind of pretty. And Leona has been texting me a lot lately…"

I sweatdropped. My arch nemesis and my childhood friend? Talk about covering the spectrum. But hey, as long as it took his mind off me.

"There you go!" I said excitedly. "And if you need any help wooing those fair maidens, I'm always willing to give you some advice." I resisted the urge to wink, afraid he might take it the wrong way.

Kenny rubbed his head, embarrassed I'd gotten him to say what he had. "Well… Thanks, Dawn. Hey, we're still friends, right?" He extended a hand to me earnestly.

I grinned widely and took his hand in a firm grip, shaking it. "Best friends."

He smiled warmly and I finally felt at ease. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for getting out of this one no worse for the wear.

As if on cue, a waiter approached and left the bill on the table. We both reached for it.

"I know this wasn't a date, but I can get the bill." Kenny said, grabbing the bill before I could.

"You sure? Why don't you let me cover half?" Even if he acknowledged it was a date, I was a little hesitant to let him treat it as one in any way.

Kenny waved me away. "No, no, I got it." He opened the bill up confidently and looked at it a while. His face paled.

"Uhh, actually, you mind if I take you up on that?"

I pulled out my wallet, rolling my eyes mentally.

Boys.

The ride home was pretty good. With the awkwardness as water under the bridge, Kenny and I resumed talking about our lives and future plans. We decided to try meeting up a few more times over the summer to stay close before going off the college.

Kenny pulled the car up in front of my apartment building. I got out and waved at him. "Thanks for the evening, Kenny. It really was fun."

Kenny rubbed his head sheepishly. "I'm glad you feel that way after everything, Dawn. Keep in touch, ok?"

"Definitely!"

He pulled away, waving. "And good luck with Ash, I know you can do it!"

I flushed lightly, cursing that he was too far away to yell after him. I just shook my head and turned to walk to the apartment. As I walked through the lot, I noticed the car parked in its usual spot. What surprised me was that a car was parked next to it, in a lot that was usually empty. That was weird. Was Ash having visitors?

I shrugged indifferently at the thought and made my way to the apartment quickly. I couldn't wait to tell Ash about my hectic day and the dinner with Kenny. He'd probably just laugh at me for being so dense and then pull me close on the sofa and hesitantly offer to watch a chick flick to put me in a good mood. That was just what I needed right now.

Reaching the door I silently unlocked it with my key. Hopefully I could surprise him.

I tiptoed into the apartment and immediately heard the sound of the TV coming from the living room. Maybe he started a movie already?

Walking through the kitchen, I looked in the sink to see two dinner plates. I frowned. So Ash did have a guest?

Not bothering to be quiet any more, I strolled into the living room, immediately seeing Ash's broad shoulders and messy hair above the couch. I approached him, about to say something, when another figure I didn't see before came into view.

I hadn't seen her because she wasn't sitting upright. As I came closer I could make her out.

It was Misty. Misty had apparently come over for dinner. And now she was watching a movie with Ash.

Worst of all, Misty's body was compressed tightly into Ash's side, feet curled up on the sofa, head on his shoulder comfortably. She was practically cuddling with him.

"Get off him."

The words escaped my mouth before passing through any filter in my brain. It was like they'd come from somewhere I couldn't control. My hands flew up to my mouth in horror.

In front of me, Misty had jumped, obviously not aware I'd come up behind her. Ash had recognized my voice immediately without surprise. Both straightened and turned on the sofa to look at me.

Misty was staring, over her surprise but wondering how to respond to my outburst. "Dawn?"

Ash was looking at me curiously, not knowing why I'd said what I'd said. I just stared back at him, frozen, pleading for him to give me an out.

Ash was usually an awful liar, but now he talked so smoothly in response to my outburst you just had to believe him.

He gave a convincing sigh. "Ah, yeah Misty, I've had a really mild cold the last couple of days, and Dawn is really particular about keeping my distance with others when I'm sick. Sorry about that, it slipped my mind."

Ash pulled away from Misty pointedly. Misty blinked, looking between the two of us. Ash's tone made you want to believe him, but I could tell she was suspicious. Whatever she thought, she gave me the benefit of the doubt. "Oh, ok. Hey, Dawn. Good to see you!" To my relief, Misty didn't seem to brood on it.

"Y-Yeah. It's been a while, Misty," I said shakily. "Um, excuse me." I scurried away to the bedroom, too embarrassed to continue the conversation.

I closed the door behind me and sank down to the floor, heart beating at super speed.

_Get off him._

Why had I said that? I clutched my head in frustration. I was lucky Ash had saved me, otherwise it would have come across as extremely rude and I might have lost Misty as a friend.

But even as I thought about that, it receded to the back of my mind. I should've been feeling awful about what I said, but instead something else was pushing its way to the front of my mind.

An image. The image of Misty pressed snugly into Ash's side, the two resting on the sofa like some kind of stinking perfect couple.

I shook my head, surprised at the violence of my own thoughts.

What was wrong with me?

But the anger at myself wouldn't stay. Instead I felt a burning anger at the image in my mind. It felt perverse, disgusting, wrong. I couldn't stand the thought. Even as I should be sitting here thanking the stars I'd avoided a confrontation with Misty, my body was yearning to storm back into the living room to yank her body off the couch and away from Ash.

What was wrong with me?

What was Ash thinking anyway? Did that idiot even consider what he was doing? Letting a girl practically sit on top of him? Did he just pick any girl off the sidewalk and invite her in to get comfy with him?

Or was it Misty? Was is because the girl was Misty?

I gritted my teeth.

Did Ash like Misty? Did he want to be with her? Did he love her?

The image of the two on the couch made its way to the front of my mind. Without my command, the image started to morph.

Ash turning to Misty, whispering something into her ear huskily. Misty blushing, smiling.

I stood up and fell face forward into the bed, burying my face into the pillow.

The two leaning in, touching foreheads, pressing lips together.

I pressed the pillow to my mouth, muffling my scream of frustration.

Separating, breathing hard. Ripping one other's clothes off.

I felt bitter tears make their way up to my eyes, wetting the pillow.

I was so stupid. Ash hadn't said anything about Misty, they hadn't hinted at having any feelings for one another. But that one moment, seeing the two so close, made me so scared. Scared that she got to feel Ash's special warmth, the warmth of his deepest love and affection, reserved for the person he held closest to his heart.

It drove me absolutely crazy.

And I had no idea why.

* * *

><p>Author's Note<p>

Next Update: 12/14/14, by 11:00 PM UTC


	4. So Much More

I woke up with a start to the sound of my alarm buzzing. Groaning, I turned and shut it off with a hard slap, digging my face back into my pillow.

Which was what I did every morning, but there was something different today… I didn't have to stretch to reach the clock for some reason…

I sat upright with a shock, clutching the bedsheets.

I didn't have to stretch because Ash wasn't holding me.

He wasn't on the bed at all.

The events of the previous night came flooding back to me. I looked in the mirror across the room to see that the skin around my eyes was slightly puffed up and my eyes were slightly red from my tears last night.

I remembered falling on the bed and crying… I must have been so exhausted I sobbed myself to sleep… I recalled the reason for my tears and swallowed uncertainly. Now that it was morning and I'd slept over it, I felt like an idiot for crying over something like that.

On the other hand, Ash hadn't come to bed last night. Did that mean he and Misty… he and Misty…

I felt all the feelings from last night welling up again. I jumped off the bed to run into the bathroom and get a hold of myself.

After several deep breaths, I slapped my cheeks to pull myself together, and then I washed my face.

I couldn't deal with this Ash… problem… right now. If I thought about it anymore the way I was now, I would probably go crazy. The best thing to do was to have a nice, normal day and deal with it afterwards. I took another deep breath and cleared my mind.

Taking special care to concentrate and not let my mind wander, I brushed my teeth, showered, dressed, and did my hair in record time. When I was completely ready, I inspected myself in the mirror, and after I was satisfied I left the bedroom to go and make myself some breakfast.

As soon as I moved out of the bedroom into the living room though, I saw Ash.

He was lying on the sofa, asleep.

All my resolve to block him from my mind was broken like a couple of toothpicks.

Frustratingly, my first emotion was relief. If he had slept in our apartment, on the sofa, it was unlikely anything… really intimate… had gone on between him and Misty.

Then I was gripped with curiosity. Why hadn't he come to bed after Misty had left, then?

I was snapped out of my reverie by movement. I watched in surprise as Ash stirred, and his eyes slowly fluttered open.

I was surprised because it was still pretty early compared to when Ash usually woke up, and he was a really heavy sleeper. The only noise I had made was from opening the bedroom door. For him to wake up from that meant he wasn't sleeping very well.

I stood frozen as Ash's eyes opened fully and he stared up at the ceiling for a second. His brow furrowed as (I assumed) he wondered why he seemed to sleeping in a different place.

A frown came over his face. His arm moved to the side gently, feeling for anything there. He winced and grunted slightly as his hand hit the coffee table, and then he frowned further.

I flushed lightly, realizing he was feeling around for my body, which was usually next to his on the bed.

Suddenly Ash seemed to get his bearings, and he sat upright sharply. He looked around intensely, and when his eyes found me they settled on me abruptly. It wasn't his usual warm gaze, though. There was something different in his eyes.

Surprise? Not exactly.

Anger? Nope.

Hurt? It fit the bill a little more.

Betrayal? Yes, but… why?

"Dawn…" He stood up slowly, still staring at me. There was something suddenly imposing about his tall figure, something unfamiliar. He was still staring at me with that betrayed look in his eyes. I had no idea why, but it still hurt me to have him look at me like that.

I decided to play it off. "Good morning, Ash." I said calmly, walking towards the kitchen. I stopped when I reached the entrance to it, looking at him again.

Why was he still looking at me like that?

"Hey, uh, why'd you sleep on the couch?" I asked as innocently as I could.

His look changed suddenly, though I couldn't read it. He turned his eyes down, so his bangs covered them. At his sides, his fist clenched. When he spoke, it came out as nearly a whisper.

"…pillow w…" Was all I could make out.

"Huh?"

He'd been standing halfway across the room, but in a couple of strides he seemed to cross it, coming to stand in front of me. This time he looked angry. His fists were still clenched. Most people might have backed away, but even if I didn't understand what was going on exactly, I understood Ash's general body language. It was clear that, although he was livid, he wasn't livid at me. The target of his anger was something else.

He repeated himself, looking straight into my eyes. "Your pillow was wet."

I stared back at him, unable to muster a response.

"Misty went home not long after you left. I got ready for bed, but when I climbed in, I accidentally put my hand on your pillow." Ash's face was flushing with rage.

"Your pillow was wet." He made the statement as if it was all the evidence he needed to present, as if the one statement perfectly explained something terrible that I should be ashamed of.

When I didn't say anything he continued. "So I looked at your face, and I saw tear stains… And your eyes were puffy…"

He took a deep breath and said as if it were the most painful thing in the world, "You were crying last night."

I continued to stare at him. He looked frustrated that I wasn't saying anything, but he continued talking.

"I was so angry. I couldn't sleep next to you. I tried, but I was so… mad… If I'd stayed there I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from waking you up… shaking you awake to find out why you were crying… But you'd managed to fall asleep and I didn't want to disturb you. So I came out here and slept on the sofa."

I didn't know what to say. He gritted his teeth and continued, starting to gesture wildly. "If something happened, you should have talked to me! I don't care if I was with a friend or whatever, you should've pulled me away and told me!"

He slammed the wall next to my head with an open palm. "Do you have any idea how it felt for me to find out you were crying and didn't come to me? Do you have any idea?"

Before I could even sort through the emotions that were running through my head, he took a deep breath and his eyes turned from their emotional chocolate brown to a steely black.

"What made you cry? Who? Was it work? Someone you work with? Was it Kenny?" He searched my face. "Tell me, Dawn. If it was something, I'll sort it out. If it was someone, I'll find them and punch them until they shed two tears for each of yours."

In any other moment, I would have felt incredibly tender at his words. But now I just felt resentful. Angry. My unresolved feelings from last night boiled to the surface without warning.

"You'll punch them?" I hissed angrily. "What if it was Misty? Would you punch _her_ for me?"

Ash looked taken aback suddenly. "Misty? It was Misty?"

"No, you idiot!"

"Then who? Tell me!"

I pulled at my hair, frustrated. All my emotions suddenly poured out at once. I shouted at him brutally, so harshly and bitterly that I felt like I was shooting venom at him.

"You! You made me cry!"

I turned away from him as quickly as I could, but not quickly enough. Before I looked away I caught the horror and pain that entered his face and contorted it. I barely held back a strangled sob at seeing the look. I'd never seen his face like that, and to think I caused him to feel that way… There was nothing I consciously wanted more in that moment than to just grab his head to my chest tightly and sob and apologize.

But it was like all my anger from the previous moment had shot straight to my feet. I continued to turn away, and my feet pulled me across the room, and out the front door. I struggled with my arms, wanting to close the door gently behind me, but instead my hands slammed the door shut.

I stood outside the door, numb. I heard nothing, not even footsteps, from inside.

Feeling empty inside and being too cowardly to go back inside, I dragged my feet out the apartment building and trudged to work.

10 minutes. 600 seconds. I spent every single one thinking about the pain Ash was in because of me.

When I reached work and walked in, Marian's head snapped up to greet me, but she took one look at my face and stopped herself before saying anything. In the back of my mind I thought about the look of utter surprise and speechlessness she must be having.

Without acknowledging her or anyone else, I padded silently to my desk and sat down heavily in my chair. I opened the segment I was working on and watched the cursor blink for a while.

"Dawn? Dawn!"

I snapped awake in my chair, jerking violently at the sudden sensation of almost falling over. When I righted myself and looked around, I saw the anxious faces of Marian, Solidad, Jessilina, and Zoey staring back at me. I looked at my clock.

12:15 PM. I'd been sleeping in my chair almost 3 hours.

Before I could try to play it off or say anything at all, I was literally dragged out of my chair into an unused conference room nearby. Zoey sat me down in another chair and the four girls stood around me, arms crossed, as if this were some sort of intervention.

"What's going on?" I cursed mentally as my voice cracked.

"You tell us," Jessilina said gruffly.

"You looked like a zombie when you walked in this morning," Marian said worriedly.

"A crying zombie," Zoey said pointedly.

"Is there anything you want to tell us?" Solidad prodded gently.

I stared at all of them, still feeling the same emptiness from when I'd stood outside the apartment in the morning.

Without another thought I spilled my guts.

When I finished, the girls were quiet, processing the details of my story.

Jessilina was shaking her head. "You brat, it's so obvious you're in love with –"

Zoey put a hand up, cutting her off. "Dawn's not stupid, Jessilina. So the question is, what reason do you have to _not_ think this is love, Dawn?"

"It's not love," I said monotonously. "Ash and I are best friends. Nothing comes in the middle of that."

I looked up and saw disbelief plastered on the girls' faces.

Solidad spoke first. "So you're saying it's impossible for you to love him… because he's your best friend?"

"My best, best friend," I said tiredly. "Nothing will ever change that."

Zoey put her hands down on the table roughly. "Has it ever occurred to you that you can be lovers _and_ best friends?"

I shook my head. "We are perfect best friends. What we have right now _can't_ be anything else. Our friendship is so complete, so perfect, that if we tried to be anything different to each other, it would all fall apart. We need to be what we are now. I need him in my life. So we need to stay the way we are."

"You're scared."

My head snapped up in recognition of the new voice. In front of me, the four girls parted to either side to let Hermione in.

I swallowed hard. There went my job. I couldn't muster an apology or the will to grovel. I just sat, empty, waiting for her to fire me for bringing my personal problems to work.

To my surprise, she didn't fire me. She walked to my side and turned me in my chair, lifting my chin with her hand so I had to meet her eyes.

"You're scared," Hermione repeated. "You just said it yourself. You're scared to explore your feelings for this man because you're afraid it will ruin everything you have with him already. What you don't realize is that you hardly have a choice. You're far better off finding the courage to explore those feelings now, because what you 'have with him already' is already doomed."

I snapped out of my semi-reverie, feeling focused for the first time that day. I sprang out of my chair, fists balled. "What do you mean, 'doomed?' Are you saying Ash and I can't be best friends anymore?"

Hermione met my wild eyes coolly. "I'm saying you can't be what you were anymore."

I felt myself crumbling. "Y-You're lying. We can always go back. We can forget all this, and, and…"

Hermione crossed her arms briskly, but her voice was slightly gentle as she spoke again. "Do you remember two days ago, when you walked into my office and asked me to get you published earlier because you were capable of more?"

I stared at her dumbly. What did that have to do with anything?

She took my stare as a yes. "Why did you do that?" she asked bluntly.

I blinked, genuinely unsure of how to proceed.

I decided to just answer her question. "Because Ash suggested it."

She raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting, but not a good enough answer. After all, you could've ignored his suggestion. You could've sat at your desk and just continued to do what you'd always done. Why did you come into my office and confront me about it?"

Hermione emphasized her next question. "Why couldn't you just _go back_ to what you were?"

I felt the answer instinctively. "Because the suggestion had been made. Even if the option had always been there before Ash had suggested it, the important thing was that now that I was aware of it."

I looked Hermione straight in the eyes. "I wouldn't have ever been able to go back to what I was doing before, because I knew I was capable of more."

Hermione nodded strongly. "You can't _undo_ awareness. Once you know a certain option exists, none of the other options will ever look the same again." Hermione now gripped my shoulders. "And once you have a new feeling, your old feelings can never be the same either."

I swallowed. What she was saying felt right. After the way I'd been feeling over the last few days (if not longer), I couldn't simply go back to the way I'd been before, not even if I wanted to.

Hermione sighed. "All I'm saying is that you can't expect your new feelings to delete themselves and revert your relationship to the way it was before. Their very existence has changed your relationship forever – you can either step forward and define that change, or ignore it and hope you can live with what turns out."

Define the change?

"So I can make my relationship with Ash… whatever I want?" I asked uncertainly. "But how do I choose? And how will I know he'll want it, too?"

Hermione's face softened suddenly. She took her hands off my shoulders and shrugged. When she spoke, her voice was gentler than ever.

"Listen, Dawn. I'm trying to help you, and I know I just lectured you, but the truth is that I don't have answers beyond a certain point. I can't define friendship, or love, or any complex emotion for that matter."

Hermione smiled softly. "But I know that the girl who's been interning in my office this summer is one of the most promising young girls in the fashion world, and I know she's a wonderful girl to boot. And she's a girl who's always had the courage to take charge of her own future."

I gulped. "I don't know about that. Ash was the one who always psyched me up to take risks at work. Ash has always been my courage…"

"Then don't you need him?" Hermione smiled. "If he really does give you courage, I mean."

Jessilina snorted. "The brat boy's not just your courage, he's your spunk, too. You were always sassy before all this stuff went down."

"And your energy," Marian offered. "I don't think it's a coincidence that you came in looking dead today."

"He's your protector, too," Solidad said. "You always talk about how safe you feel with him."

Zoey suddenly moved behind me, gripping my shoulders tightly. "And your smile. You have the most beautiful smile in the world, Dawn, when you talk about him."

I felt tears surfacing. It was so, so simple. But without my friends pointing it out I don't know how long I would have been clueless.

Ash had become everything to me. For better or for worse, that was the truth.

I gave all the girls the most genuine smile I could muster. "Thank you. I need to go now, and I understand if you don't want me back here, Hermione, but I _will_ make this up to all of you somehow."'

I ran past all of them, strengthened by their well wishes.

"Of course I want you back. Make sure you're back to yourself, though."

"When you come in next time, greet me properly, ok?"

"Good luck you brat."

"Give it your all, Dawn!"

"When you come back, I want to see your real smile, ya hear?"

I wiped a hand across my eyes roughly before sprinting out of the office, running full speed home. The worst part of it all was that I knew he would be home. Ash's mood reflected in everything he did. He wouldn't be able to go to work, not after what I'd done to him.

I suppressed a sob, increasing my pace.

4 minutes. 240 seconds. I spent every single one thinking about how I would right things with Ash.

When I ran up to the door, I stopped for a second to catch my breath. As soon I was breathing somewhat normally, I pushed the door open and walked in.

After a few steps in, I saw him. He was sitting against the wall right where I'd yelled at him over 3 hours ago. He was fast asleep.

I took a moment to look over his face. Dark bags under his eyes and a slight paleness in his skin reminded me how awfully he'd slept last night, after he found out I'd been crying.

For the second time that day, Ash stirred merely from hearing the opening of a door. This time though, he got his bearings extremely fast. He looked down at his watch first, then up and around quickly. His eyes settled on me.

I couldn't meet his gaze. I stared at his chest, instead, as he got up and walked to me slowly.

I prepared myself for the worst. I knew everything about Ash there was to know, but this situation was beyond the scope of anything that'd happened before. He could yell at me, push me away, slap me, I had no idea.

He hugged me.

"I'm sorry." He said.

I stood in his embrace limply, unable to believe it. "For what?" I asked dumbly.

"For making you cry," he tightened his arms around me. "Tell me what I did to make you cry and I will make sure I never do it again."

I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes, knowing I should have expected this from Ash. "Why are you apologizing to me if you don't know what you did to make you cry? What if it's not really your fault?"

Ash pulled me closer still. "It doesn't matter. I made you cry. Whatever I did, whatever it is about me that made you cry, I will change it. I can't bear it when you cry."

I pulled away from him, cupping his face in my hands. "Why not?"

With the hug disengaged, his hands rested on my waist gently. He blinked, not understanding. "What do you mean?"

"Why can't you bear it when I cry?"

Ash frowned. "Because I feel sad… and angry… and I can't think about anything else other than that you're feeling that bad…"

I felt strangely calm. I realized it was because I knew exactly how I felt about Ash now. My head was clear. The only obstacle was seeing whether he felt the same way.

I sighed, missing his warmth despite only being an arm's length away. "Hold me." I commanded.

He brought me in to his chest. I laid my head on his shoulder again, clutching at the back of his shirt. "What if another one of your friends cried? Like Misty?" I despised myself for bringing a specific person into what should be between Ash and me, but in the end I was too petty and insecure not to do it.

"Misty?" Ash said. "I wouldn't want Misty to cry either, but… it's different. If Misty told me to back off and leave her alone, for example, I would be frustrated, but I could do it."

"And with me?"

His embrace tightened. "Never. I wouldn't be able to leave you alone. If I knew you were crying, I would have to know why. It would take over my life and drive me crazy."

I smiled despite myself. Turning my head, I moved my cheek from his shoulder to his chest. "Why?"

"…You're asking me a lot of hard questions, Dawn."

I giggled into his chest. He sighed. "Why? It would take over my life because you're such a big part of my life. I don't go an hour in a day without thinking about you, talking about you, or being with you."

I clutched him tightly and happily. "Really?"

"Of course. I've never really thought about it before, but you're the person I think about the most on a regular basis."

I felt my cheeks flush at how easily he said the words. I thought back to what Hermione said, about defining the relationship however I wanted. I realized that Ash did it without even thinking about it. He treated me however he felt about me without worrying about whether that was friendship, or… or…

I gulped. "Ash, what do you think of me as?"

Ash's right hand moved up behind my head protectively. "What do you mean?"

"What am I to you? Am I your best friend?"

"Sure," Ash replied without hesitation. "But it's not like that's all."

I exhaled sharply. "Then what do you think of me as?"

Ash shrugged. I got the feeling he was at a loss. "I don't get what you're asking."

"You said I wasn't just your best friend. Then what am I?"

"What are you? I dunno, everything else that I feel about you. I don't know how to say it. You're _Dawn_."

I rested against him, suppressing the urge to laugh out loud. All this time, I'd been struggling between classifying him as a best friend or something else, when he'd been doing the right thing: thinking of me exactly as he felt about me, without categorizations or anything of the sort.

But how could I figure out where those feelings could take us?

A lightbulb went off in my head. I grinned, pulling away from Ash finally to look up at him. He looked back, confused.

"Hey, Ash, how many times have we watched 'Titanic'?"

"Oh my freaking... Dawn, what does that have to do –"

"Trust me," I rested a hand on his chest. "Just tell me."

He sighed. "At least 6 times together, if not more."

I grinned. "So you know the movie pretty well?"

Ash scoffed. "Every line."

"Well, you know how Jack feels about Rose?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Is that how you feel about me?"

Ash stopped suddenly, and he frowned.

"No."

My heart sank. What had I –

"I feel wayyyy more strongly about you."

I froze, looking into his eyes. He was waving me away casually.

"How many times do I have to tell you, remember that other guy who was after Rose, you know that guy who survived by stealing someone's baby? If Jack had just punched that guy before all the bad stuff happened, there might've been an extra space on the life boat for him, and then he and Rose could've lived happily ever after. I would've punched that guy, and then we would've lived happily ever after. So see, there's no comparison."

I stared at him in disbelief.

"You don't believe me? Well then, you know I used to swim before I started basketball. I bet I have ten times the cold tolerance Jack had. You think I would do something lame like die before the rescue boat came? Come on. I would've made it back to you no matter what."

I held his face in my hands, my eyes watery. "Ash…"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, Ash."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what Jack and Rose said to each other. I'm telling you, we have something so much better. But yeah, I guess at the very least I love you, too, Dawn."

I meshed my fingers behind his neck, laughing gaily. "You know what, Ash?"

"What?"

"You're an idiot."

"I know. I was trying to punch myself after you left this morning, but I kept flinching."

"I love you so much, Ash."

I kissed him.

No, we weren't just best friends. And we weren't just lovers, either.

We were so much more.

* * *

><p>Author's Note<p>

Next Update: 12/15/14, by 4:00 AM UTC


	5. Only One in the World

I woke up to a feeling of intense warmth all over. As my eyes opened slowly, the events of the previous day came rushing back and I smiled involuntarily. My hands moved down to my waist to touch Ash's hands, which were wrapped tightly around me, pulling my back flush into his chest.

Yes, we were spooning. After we'd gotten everything out in the open, I didn't think it was necessary to trick Ash into holding me at night. I straight out asked him to spoon and (once I'd showed him how…) he was happy to.

And boy, did it feel good. His embrace had never felt warmer.

Behind me, I felt Ash's body stir. I removed my hands from where they were lingering on his, realizing I'd woken him up.

"Mmmm… G'mornin, Dawn…" Ash said sleepily.

I rotated in his embrace until I faced him. "Good morning, Ash. Sorry for waking you."

He shrugged. "No problem. Anyway, I'm feeling really refreshed. That might be the best sleep I've ever had."

I smiled at him teasingly. "Why do you think that is?"

He squinted playfully. "I can't be sure, but I have an idea…"

Ash's hands pressed me into him suddenly, and before I could react he stole my lips in a kiss. He kept it short but intense. I felt dazed as he pulled away.

"A-Ash!" I tried to muster anger but couldn't keep a giddy smile off my face. "I haven't even brushed yet. That's disgusting!"

I pulled away from him with a light blush, turning my head to hide how flustered I was.

He let me pull away, crossing his arms behind his head and looking up at the ceiling. "Really? You taste as sweet as you did yesterday."

I felt my blush intensify. "Such a charmer," I muttered as I made my way to bathroom. I washed my face, and then grabbed our brushes and put some paste on them, stuffing one in my mouth and bringing the other to Ash in bed.

"Huh?" he looked at me quizzically.

I pushed his brush in his hands and pointed to my own brushing motion. He shrugged and stuffed his in his mouth as well.

When I finished, I spit in the sink and rinsed my mouth; Ash came in right behind me and did the same, washing his face afterward. I tapped my foot impatiently behind him.

He dried his face and hung the towel up, turning around to face me. "Why are you –"

I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He was clearly surprised, but he kissed back after a moment, wrapping his strong arms around the small of my back. Our lips danced together intimately.

Ash pulled away, taking in a big gulp of air and looking back at me with wide eyes.

I was blushing madly, but I met his gaze nonetheless. "Well?"

"From now on, you can initiate, Dawn. That was nothing like the one I started before…"

I giggled. "No, I like it when you surprise me. And I won't ever say no to your kisses in bed, but I do prefer kissing you with a clean mouth."

I gulped at how freely the phrase 'kissing you' came. So much had changed between Ash and me in a single day, it was almost frightening.

Almost. When I really thought about it, it just felt right.

"Well, if you prefer to brush first, that's cool, but I can't promise I'll always be able to control myself."

I beamed at him, deciding to withhold the fact that I liked it best that way.

"But Dawn, I never knew brushing turned you on so much. You want to be a dentist or something?"

"Oh, shut up, Ash."

* * *

><p>"So, will everything be ok at work?" Ash asked, watching the road as he drove.<p>

I shrugged. "I kind of broke down yesterday, but nobody really saw me except some of my close girl friends… and well, my boss… but they're the ones that helped me through it. I'm pretty sure everything's going to be ok. In fact, they'll probably be ecstatic to hear about… us."

I said it with some trepidation, but felt reassured at the smile that spread across Ash's face. He nodded happily.

I smiled to myself but then frowned when I thought about what would ultimately happen. "Well, they'll be happy for sure, but after a few minutes Jessilina, Solidad, and Zoey will be back to teasing me." I sighed. "I don't really mind after everything they've done for me, but it's hard to have a perpetual blush on your face all day…"

I turned to Ash. "You missed work, yesterday, right? Is that going to be ok?"

Ash seemed to be thinking intensely, but my question broke him out of it, and he rubbed his head sheepishly. "Yeah, it should be. I feel kind of bad, but they got a replacement for the day so they were fine. Plus I got something _very_ fine for myself, so it's a win-win, don't you think?" He smiled at me cheekily.

I felt my cheeks redden. He was so sweet. I would've said something back, but his words 'very fine' stopped me and brought a brighter red to my face. Because he was so dense, it was hard to tell with him whether he was being plain romantic or actually sexual.

He looked back at the road and his brow furrowed. "I think camp's running a little late today, should be past the time you get out. Do you mind swinging by? Everyone knows who you are, but I want them to meet you in person."

I smiled lightly at the fact that Ash had talked about me at work. It'd probably been subconscious; I knew I did it, too. People at work asked me about how Ash was doing all the time, and I was often surprised at how much they knew about him from what I'd told them without realizing it.

"Definitely. I want to meet everyone you've been working with. I'll walk over right after work."

"Perfect," Ash said as he pulled the car up to the curb outside my workplace.

I glanced at the clock thoughtfully. "Hey, Ash, do you have a few minutes? I really want you to meet my friends and boss if you can, especially after all they've done for me."

"That sounds great," Ash said, turning the car off. "I was hoping I could. There's something I want to do at your workplace anyway."

I got out of the car and waited for Ash to join me. "Something you want to do?"

"Yeah," Ash said mysteriously. "After what you've told me about this place."

I would've asked more, but we were walking in and I wanted to introduce Ash to Marian immediately.

"So, Ash, the woman at the front desk is –" I stopped upon seeing the front desk empty.

"Nonexistent?" Ash quipped.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand. "Come on, she's probably inside."

I led him towards my desk only to see a group of girls of clustered around it. Marian, Jessilina, Solidad, Zoey, and Hermione were talking about something animatedly. I didn't know whether to be thankful they'd gathered themselves and made the introductions easier on me, or to be apprehensive about the fact that they were probably gossiping.

As I approached, I saw Hermione shaking her head exasperatedly while Marian tossed a green bill onto a pile of other cash on my desk. I felt my eyebrow twitch involuntarily as I realized what they were doing.

"Ehem!" I cleared my throat as I came up behind them. I let go of Ash's hand to cross my arms over my chest and tap my foot in an attempt to look irritated.

Hermione saw me first and covered her face in embarrassment for the actions of her employees. Jessilina saw me right after and flailed around on my desk in a poor attempt to hide the betting pool.

"Oh, Dawn!" Marian said, sweating slightly. "It's so good to see you!" She was obviously embarrassed but I could also see that she was genuinely glad to see me. Behind her, Zoey and Solidad were flushing with embarrassment as well, but their faces had also brightened upon seeing me.

I felt myself soften under their warm expressions.

But there was still going to be a discussion about the betting pool later.

"It's great to see you, too, Marian! Morning, Jessilina, Solidad, Zoey, Hermione."

They nodded back, but their attention was already partly on Ash. I smirked inwardly. This was going to be my guilty pleasure from now on. Partly from his natural charisma and partly from his experience as a basketball star (and in my humble opinion, partly from his smoking hot looks), Ash had an incredibly strong presence. When he walked into a room, people looked; their eyes were drawn to him, and so were they. They wanted to be near him and talk to him and listen to his funny stories and become friends with him.

And from now on I got to introduce him as my boyfriend.

I resisted the urge to grin like an idiot and cleared my throat. But for now, just to punish my coworkers for their little betting scheme, I would leave them in the dark as to our relationship. I knew they were falling off their seats with the need to know, so this would serve them right.

Yes, I could be a very cruel girl.

Consciously holding myself back from grabbing Ash's hand, I gestured to him and then to the girls.

"Girls, this is Ash. Ash, the girls."

I smiled evilly at the surprise on the girls' faces at the short introduction. Before anyone could protest or bring it up though, Ash stepped forward, the image of a perfect gentleman. He extended his hand to each girl in turn, smiling so charmingly I kind of regretted not introducing him as my man.

"Name's Jessilina. It may or may not be a pleasure."

"Ash. A pleasure for sure, for me."

"Hey, I'm Solidad."

"Hi! Ash. Dawn's told me a lot about your achievements, it's great to meet you."

"I'm Zoey. It's nice to finally meet you."

"Ash. I hear you're really close with Dawn. Thanks for taking care of her for me around here."

'Taking care of her _for me_'… I flushed.

"The name's Marian! Great to meet you!"

"You're as cheerful as Dawn always describes. I'm Ash. A pleasure."

"I'm Hermione. It's wonderful to meet the man who means so much to Dawn."

"It's wonderful to meet the woman who inspires Dawn so much. I'm Ash. It's a pleasure."

I was starting to get slightly miffed at how personally Ash was treating each girl. It was subtle, but I could see a slight rosy hue on everyone's cheeks (except for maybe Jessilina). It wasn't a blush, more like a vivacity that'd been drawn out to reciprocate Ash's charisma. Or maybe I was reading into it too much.

Ash smiled at everyone and rubbed his head sheepishly. "It's no nice to meet all of you, and I wish I could stay and talk more, but I really should be getting to work. But I'll see you again soon?"

Hermione smiled back. "Of course. Please feel free to drop by anytime, we'd love to have you."

Ash gave her a thumbs-up and turned to me, raising his hand. I grinned and we shared a resounding high-five. He looked impressed afterward.

"That's the one. Ten out of ten." He winked at me and turned to leave.

I flushed lightly. "See you later, Ash!"

He tossed a hand up coolly as he walked away.

I looked back to see the girls looking after Ash in a mixture of admiration and respect. I was about to confront them about the betting pool when I remembered what Ash had said about wanting to do something at my workplace. Just as I looked after him to call him back, he snapped his fingers and did an about-face, walking back briskly.

In what seemed like a few steps he was back in front of me, looking into my eyes intensely. "I almost forgot about this."

I was about to ask him what when he pulled me into him smoothly and kissed me on the lips.

This was different from our previous kisses. My first kiss with Ash was tender and beautiful, bursting with all our newly shared feelings for each other. Our second kiss was intense but short. The third, passionate and long.

This one was rough and primal. It was wonderfully genuine on one hand and completely staged on the other. I say that because I was responding to very familiar movements of Ash's lips in a definite, emotional way that couldn't be anything but intimate; but Ash was dominating the kiss so strongly that all I could do was respond.

It wasn't Ash's usual style. Even if he led the kiss, he always gave me a way in to change the course of it however I wanted. But now he was leading so fiercely… It was like he was trying to accomplish some agenda.

Ash's lips were overwhelming me. I was still responding, but thought was being pushed to the back of my mind. As I surrendered to him, I realized what he was doing.

_I smiled to myself but then frowned when I thought about what would ultimately happen. "Well, they'll be happy for sure, but after a few minutes Jessilina, Solidad, and Zoey will be back to teasing me." I sighed._

I smiled against Ash's lips and placed my hands on his chest tenderly. The best way to shut down a tease was to be a tease, huh?

With Ash's motive in mind his movements suddenly became clear. They were tailored to be suggestively sexual while remaining within the bounds of social romantic decency. In other words, nobody could objectively pick out anything he was doing and say it was indecent in the workplace, but nobody could subjectively watch us without feeling our sensuality either.

It was in his body language. His feet, positioned outside of mine on either side, such that my legs were completely enclosed within his. His left hand, positioned between my shoulder blades to push my chest into his. His right hand, positioned just below the small of my back, but not quite flat on the back of my skirt, pushing my hips into his. His nose, frequently brushing against the side of mine roughly.

And his lips. Positioned such that it was obvious his tongue was exploring my mouth, but also such that the movement of our tongues wasn't visible. Moving fluidly against mine, pressing, sucking, dancing, and with such a primal, needful urge I felt my knees shake.

I had to make a conscious effort not to moan.

When he pulled away, I almost pulled him back; I would've if not for the slight smirk of accomplishment I discerned on his face. He spoke softly, but loud enough for the girls to just barely hear what he was saying. "We'll continue this tonight, ok?"

"Mmmhmmm," I replied intelligently.

He turned to the girls with a casualness that belied the fact that we'd just sucked each other's faces off. "Alright, I'll see you guys later."

He turned and walked out the door without looking back.

My knees were still wobbling slightly, and I had to swallow to get my lips to move again, but I slowly regained my composure and turned to the girls.

They were staring at the door Ash had walked out of, blushing madly. Hermione's flush was light, but apparent. Jessilina looked angry at herself, but she was unable to control her blush. Solidad, Marian, and Zoey's faces were all crimson red.

Hermione cleared her throat and turned around and walked back to her office.

Jessilina turned to walk back to her own desk as well. "Brats these days, thinking they have all the moves," she muttered.

Marian, Solidad, and Zoey were all looking at me weirdly.

"What?" I asked self-consciously.

"Where can we get one?" Zoey looked at me seriously.

I almost choked but managed to turn it into a scoff. "Only one in the world, ladies. Sorry." I smoothed my skirt and sat down at my desk coolly as the three girls mumbled dejectedly amongst themselves and left.

I got the feeling I wouldn't be teased about Ash for a long time.

I silently thanked Ash for it. It seemed impossible considering we were talking about Jessilina, Solidad, and Zoey… But on the other hand, this was Ash.

I smiled to myself, licking my lips contentedly.

"Only one in the world."

* * *

><p>Author's Note<p>

Last Update: 12/18/14, by 11:30 AM UTC


	6. Together

Author's Note

Although it is not a 'lemon,' this chapter does contain highly suggestive themes; please note that as a result, this story's rating has been hiked up to M.

This story concludes with this chapter. This originally started as a 2-3 chapter story, but I had so much fun writing it that it turned into 6 chapters. I can only hope you've had just as much fun reading it. I welcome your thoughts on this story or requests for future stories via PM or review. Thank you very much for your readership and your support.

* * *

><p>I should've known. It was just like Ash to solve my biggest problem and then accidentally leave me with an even bigger one.<p>

See, as soon as I'd sat down at my desk I realized that… well… Ash had really turned me on. It was slight, but every time I sat properly to work, pressing my legs together, I felt the incorruptible evidence of how much he'd stirred my need.

Which was why I'd spent the last hour with my head on my desk, alternatingly trying to push Ash out of my mind and having scandalous fantasies about him. It was destroying my focus.

I looked at my phone nervously, remembering that I still had that picture of towel-clad Ash. It was dirty on a thousand levels, but if it came down to it, we did have the single person bathrooms here so I wouldn't have to worry about interruptions or–

_BUZZ!_

I jumped out of my seat as the phone I'd been staring at lustily vibrated without warning. I cursed and sat down, holding my thumping heart with one hand and checking my phone with the other.

_10:46 AM Ash: Dawn… We're still on tonight but looks like I just can't wait until then… Send me a pic of you plz?_

I stared at the message, reading it twice, then again. I felt a smile creep onto my face and sighed in relief. At least that meant I wasn't some kind of thirsty pervert… If Ash of all people was feeling turned on, then my own response to our intimacy was nowhere out of the ordinary.

I'm allowed to make that comparison because I spent half of our spooning session last night squirming against Ash in an attempt to arouse him, with no success. Sue me for being curious.

I rose from my chair and made my way to the individual restrooms at the back, entering one and making triply sure it was locked. I paced excitedly, looking at the message again.

…_I just can't wait until then… Send me a pic of you plz?_

I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was bright red. Yeah, I was a little embarrassed, but I was more flattered than anything. Ash, Ash of all people, essentially begging for a dirty pic? It was enough to make world news.

I gulped as I thought about what kind of picture to send. I wanted to give him what he wanted, but I also wanted the first time he saw me bare to be in person, when we were in front of each other. I decided to go for a racy underwear shot, which would preserve my modesty but hopefully help Ash… get off.

I could almost feel myself blow steam as I thought about what Ash was going to do with the picture. Maybe I could ask him for a video of it? I shook my head furiously. I would ask him for a picture just like he asked me, to be fair. Sure, I had some material of him already, but it never hurt to have something extra, especially if it could be raunchier.

I took a deep breath and pulled off my blouse and my undershirt, putting them on the railing neatly. I tugged the hem of my skirt down, stepping out of it leg by leg and placing it with the other clothes. All I had on now were dark blue panties and a matching bra. Luckily, I'd been in such a sensual mood this morning I'd chosen a particularly lacy pair, the kind that showed quite a bit but left the important bits to the imagination. I was sure Ash would like it.

I positioned the camera to take the mirror selfie and took a deep breath. I frowned. Would this really be enough for him? The problem here was that Ash wouldn't pressure me into sending a pic he thought I was uncomfortable with. I know that sounds backwards, but what that meant here was that if I sent him something that wasn't… erm… enough… then he wouldn't be able to… well… finish… but he wouldn't tell me unless I asked, and then I'd feel like a total loser…

Maybe I was overthinking it, but the best thing to do definitely seemed to be to give him the raciest thing I could inside my comfort zone.

I put my phone down on the sink and observed myself in the mirror before snapping my fingers.

I carefully jimmied the sides of my underwear to ride as low as they could on my hips without showing anything. Then I slipped the straps of my bra off my shoulders, holding the garment against my chest with my left hand. Lastly, I pulled out my hair clips and let my hair down to flow past my shoulders.

I looked in the mirror and nodded appreciatively. I was ready.

I squinted my eyes slightly, making as sultry a face as I could. When I was set, I positioned the camera, looked straight forward, and took my ultimate mirror selfie.

Once I checked the picture and saw it was good, I got dressed and started a message to Ash. But before I sent the picture, I made sure to put in my own request.

_10:57 AM Me: Ash I'm about to send you the pic… Plz send me one of you…?_

I smiled giddily and quickly put together my picture message, pressing the 'Send' button with a dramatic flair.

_10:58 AM Me: Enjoy it, Ash! 3 [Attachment]_

I was debating between leaving to try getting some work done before Ash sent me his pic, or just waiting it out, when I got a message from Ash.

…That was fast. Was he waiting in the bathroom or something?

I lifted the phone to check the message when it vibrated twice more in quick succession. Strangely, none of the messages seemed to have attachments. What, he wouldn't send me one of him? Spoilsport. I opened the messages.

_10:58 AM Ash: You want a pic of me? But I already introduced myself to your coworkers, right…?_

I blinked numbly, staring at the text. He was thinking of 'pic' like… a regular picture of himself?

I paled.

_We're still on tonight but looks like I just can't wait until then…_

When he said 'tonight,' he'd been referring to our conversation in the car about me dropping by after work to get introduced to the people at his camp.

Not 'tonight' as in what we were going to do back at the apartment.

He just wanted a picture of me… to show the kids and his coworkers at camp as soon as he could.

…

How was I ever going to live this down?! If I'd just thought about the situation, about the _actual_ chances that Ash _actually _wanted a racy picture of me so he could get off while _at work at a children's camp_, then maybe this wouldn't have happened. But no, I was so clouded by that amazing, amazing kiss that I couldn't think straight!

Hmm, Ash was at fault for the kiss, so as usual this was totally his fault. … Not that it made me feel any better.

My brain numb, I opened the next messages from Ash.

_10:59 AM Ash: Holy… Dawn, you… you look amazing!_

I blushed. At least he took it in stride.

_10:59 AM Ash: …But are you sure you want me to show this to everyone here when I talk about you?_

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Was he really that dense?! There was no way. He was joking.

I sweatdropped. I couldn't take a chance when it came to denseness and Ash. I opened a new message and my fingers flew across the keys lightning fast.

_11:02 AM Me: ASH KETCHUM, DON'T YOU *DARE* SHOW THAT TO ANYBODY, DELETE IT RIGHT NOW, YOU HEAR?!_

_11:02 AM Me: ERASE IT RIGHT NOW!_

_11:02 AM Me: RIGHT NOW!_

_11:03 AM Me: NOW!_

_11:03 AM Ash: Geez, calm down, Dawn, I was joking! No way I'd let anybody else see this!_

I sighed in relief. The phone buzzed again.

_11:04 AM Ash: Dawn… Do I have to delete it? Can I keep it…? You know, for me to look at? You're so pretty…_

I didn't know whether to roll my eyes at the fact that my boyfriend had just described me at my raunchiest as pretty… Or to feel warm and fuzzy inside because of it.

I sighed. I couldn't help myself. Not with him.

_11:05 AM Me: You can keep it, Ash. I… took it for you, after all._

_11:05 AM Ash: Thanks, Dawn!_

I giggled. He was so easy to please.

_11:06 AM Ash: Oops…_

_11:06 AM Dawn: …What?_

_11:06 AM Ash: I got caught getting aroused by your picture… They called the cops and said I'm going to be arrested for indecent behavior in a school… The penalty is 10 years in prison… Goodbye, Dawn…_

I squinted at the phone screen, waiting.

_11:07 AM Ash: HA JUST KIDDING… I got you good, didn't I? Come on, be honest._

_11:07 AM Me: Ash, you're an idiot._

* * *

><p>I waved to Misty and the other camp workers as I climbed into the car next to Ash. After a final wave back, Ash started the car and drove off towards home.<p>

After work I'd gone over to the school camp as promised and gotten introduced to all the kids as well as the staff. It was an amazingly good time, mostly because of how well-loved Ash was there. Every person greeted me with a warm smile, or joked about something amazing or idiotic Ash had done. And the kids were so great…

"The kids loved you," Ash said quietly. It was dark, but I could tell he was smiling. "I didn't expect any less, but it still made me really happy."

I touched his shoulder playfully. "I dunno, they were treating me more like a goddess or something, expecting me to be able to beat you with one hand behind my back. One kid told me it was because you told them that I was the reason you got so good. Did you actually say that?" I laughed.

"I did," Ash said simply.

He didn't say anything else, and I laughed again. "Well, I didn't even play basketball, so that one's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?" I joked.

"No," Ash said firmly. "You didn't play basketball, but you were head cheerleader. And you always cheered for me. I don't think I would've ever gotten anywhere without you cheering me on."

He pulled into the apartment parking lot and turned off the car, turning to look at me. Even though it was dark, I could make out his eyes, and they were as sincere as ever.

I touched his cheek, feeling emotional. "Ash…"

"It's true."

"You shouldn't chalk up all your talent to me, though. People will think you mean it literally and get the wrong idea."

"But it _was_ you. It was always you."

"That's not true… I supported you, but you got better on your own. With or without me, you would've been an amazing player. Take some credit."

Ash was frowning. "No. You cheered me on, and I got better."

I shrugged. "But it's not like if I hadn't been there, you wouldn't have gotten better."

"How do you know that? You were always there."

I stared at him. He was right that I'd been to every one of his games he'd played in during high school. But it wasn't fair for him to attribute his success to me. The problem was that I couldn't argue his logic. Because –

Ash suddenly laughed loudly. I looked at him, surprised by how he'd gone from low-key to normal so fast. His eyes twinkling, he got out of the car and came over to my door, opening it and offering me a hand.

I flushed lightly, but thanked him as he helped me out and closed the door behind me. Continuing to hold my hand, he led me towards the apartment. He was still chuckling.

"What's so funny?" I asked curiously.

Ash chuckled again, unlocking the apartment door and leading me inside. "We are," he said mysteriously.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Isn't it funny?" Ash asked, smiling. "Isn't it funny that we have trouble even _imagining_ situations in which we _aren't_ there for each other?"

I felt a smile creep onto my face involuntarily. He was right. It was like we had trouble dealing with basic logic if it involved treating us as disjoint people or extricating one of our lives from the other's.

"It is funny," I agreed. "I always wanted to be head cheerleader, but I never would have gotten there the way I came out of middle school. The fitness training you gave me and my desire to be your cheerleader at games are what drove me to it."

Ash frowned. "I don't believe that. You would have made it with or without me."

I put my hands on my hips. "Does that line sound familiar?"

Ash stared at me and then laughed. I laughed as well.

"We are funny, aren't we?" I said. "It should bother us that we have no idea what our capabilities are without each another, but it doesn't bother me at all…"

Ash shrugged. "Me neither. And even if I wanted to know, and we parted ways for a month, a year, whatever, I would still never be able to believe I was apart from you."

I hugged him slowly and tenderly. "Because you've been there for me so much, you would be a part of me no matter what I did or where I went."

He pulled me in as close as he could. "Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking."

Embracing him at that moment, there was nothing I wanted more than to pull him into the bedroom and make love right then and there.

But I didn't know whether Ash was even thinking about such a thing. So far, all our intimacy had progressed naturally. We hadn't talked about it once. I didn't want to disturb that, so I didn't say anything.

We ate dinner in relative quiet. I didn't know whether Ash could put a name to it, but there was definite sexual tension between us. Every casual brushing of hands, every meeting of eyes, every exchange of words was charged with our – or at least my – personal desire to throw him down and be one with him.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the movie we chose to watch. I asked Ash if he wanted to watch 'Titanic,' and he shrugged and said sure.

"Really?" I asked incredulously. "You actually want to watch 'Titanic?'"

He shook his head. "Not especially. You can put whatever you want in, but it's not the movie I'm going to be watching." He looked at me with those chocolate eyes of his. I suppressed a shudder of lust.

My breathing increased on its own as I put the movie in and took my place next to Ash. He tapped my shoulder.

"Yeah?" I asked innocently. What I meant was, 'You wanna scrap the movie and move to the bedroom? I'm up for it.'

At least, that was implied.

"Why are you sitting so far away?" He pulled me into his lap.

I couldn't hold back my shiver this time. I could feel his hard body through his thin pajamas. I didn't know what to do or say, so I argued lamely. "That was where I usually sit."

"That was before I knew I could kiss you." His hot breath tickled my neck.

I wanted to scream for him to take me right there on the sofa, but that was probably in bad taste, right?

As the movie got underway, Ash made good on his statement. He peppered my neck, jaw, and ears with light, hot kisses that left my skin yearning for more. The infuriating thing was that he never turned my head to kiss me on the lips. He was literally letting me watch the movie and doing whatever he wanted with special care not to make me avert my eyes.

The idiot didn't realize I wasn't interested in the movie either.

Ash eventually covered every bare spot he could with his lips without turning me around. He went still for a moment until suddenly his hands made their way under my nightshirt. They rubbed my waist, my stomach, then the small of my back, and the space between my shoulder blades. If Ash had turned me around, he would have realized that my eyes were closed and I was biting my lip to keep from moaning aloud.

I know it seems like I should just turn off the movie and take the initiative, but I wasn't sure how far Ash wanted to go. If I decided to let loose, I'd have the guy crotch-deep in me in ten seconds – that was how turned on I was right now. But I wanted to respect whatever pace he wanted to… to…

Ash had decided that once he warmed me up with his hands, it was a good idea to use his lips as well. He'd ducked his entire head under my shirt and was kissing my back passionately. I arched my back slightly, throwing my head back in pleasure. It was like he knew exactly where and how hard to press his lips to turn me wild. Like he had the cheat codes to my body or something.

"Oh… Ohhh…."

The moan came out of its own accord; Ash's hands had gotten restless and begun moving along my thighs. Up and down, up and down. Frustratingly, they started from my knees, but stopped a few inches short of my sweet spot. Nonetheless, the back and forth movement of his palms on my upper thighs, coupled with the way his curled fingers ran along my inner thighs, was enough to drive me crazy. If only he would move his hands all the –

I blinked suddenly, realizing it. He was avoiding my chest and my womanhood. Of course it could just be that he knew basic female anatomy and was respecting my most private parts, but knowing Ash…

My mind flashed back to the picture I'd sent him earlier that day, dressed in nothing but my panties and bra.

The idiot thought that was as far as I would go. I laughed inwardly. He was respecting the pace he thought I wanted to go at… Just as I had been.

We really were so funny.

Ash's head pulled out from under my shirt and his mouth moved to suckle my neck intensely. Apparently he preferred his mouth on my neck rather than my back. He bit down lightly, and I felt the pleasure escalate as he sucked.

"Ahhh… Ohhh…" I preferred his mouth on my neck, too.

I started thinking of how to start talking about going further when I opened my eyes momentarily and caught the movie onscreen. It was at the part where Rose pulled Jack into the backseat of the car and started licking his fingers.

I remembered what Ash had said about being superior to Jack in terms of what he would for me. I spontaneously felt a rivalry with Rose. Not in terms of what I would do for Ash, I had her beat at that already.

In terms what I would do _to_ Ash.

Without a second thought I spun around on Ash's lap and stuck my hand down his pants.

Ash yelped. I stared into his eyes and kissed him while I massaged him. He groaned in obvious pleasure. His eyes closed to enjoy it, and then opened again, looking straight into mine.

"Dawn…" He could've written a 100-page paper about how much he wanted me, but it wouldn't get the point across as well as he did with one utterance of my name.

"Ash…" I stopped my ministrations, trying to pour everything into his name the way he had poured everything into mine, trying to get him to see what I wanted to do to him, what I wanted him to do to me, what I wanted us to do together.

He got it.

His eyes flashed, and all his mannerisms changed. With a single fluid motion he picked me up bridal style – exhilarating, but unfortunately this displaced my hand from his pants – and reached the bedroom in a matter of steps. He threw me on the bed and crouched over me on all fours, looking into my eyes, confirming what he'd thought he'd heard in my utterance of his name.

I nodded at him, already running my hands up his chest in need. My mouth couldn't seem to form words, though.

Ash pushed his forehead into mine, breathing hard. I realized that my breathing matched his.

"Dawn…" he said tenderly, "that picture you sent me this morning… It's turned me into some kind of wild animal… It made me want you completely, totally, without restraint or reservation. I don't even know how to say it, but, but…"

He pulled away momentarily, and I knew he was at a loss, but that he needed to say whatever he was trying to say. I knew he wouldn't feel right doing this otherwise.

I rubbed his shoulders comfortingly. "Just tell me. Say it however you can. You know I'll understand."

His eyes flashed with resolve. He leant in close, pushing his forehead back against mine. He moved my hand from his shoulder to his heart. I could feel it beating with the speed of a cheetah.

"Dawn… Something _inside_ me wants something _inside_ you very, very badly. I don't know _what_ or even _where_ it is inside us, but I _feel _it. I don't know how to figure out what this is between us, except to pound away at your beautiful, beautiful body in the most vulgar, primal way possible, until I reach it. So if you let me, I'm going to do just that."

I whimpered.

"Dawn?"

"Yes. I don't know what else to say, Ash. Yes."

The rest of the night was a dance in which Ash and I moved with perfect rhythm, knowing all the steps to the dance despite never having danced it before. Nothing had ever made me so happy.

Afterwards, Ash held me close to his body and we kissed gently.

"Dawn," he said, his eyes bright, "I found it."

I snuggled into him. "I know. I found it, too."

Ash chuckled, and I smiled as I felt the laugh reverberate in his chest. "We're funny, aren't we?"

"Yes, yes we are," I giggled.

What we'd been looking for wasn't anything complicated or even halfway abstract. Ash was just an idiot, and, well, I guess I was the same. We were constantly agonizing after what came naturally to us, because it came so naturally it felt too easy.

"Hold me," I told Ash. He pulled me in tightly.

It was so hard to find because it was right under our noses.

"Kiss me," I said to him. He obliged.

What'd made the last few days so hard was understanding what it was that was constant between us.

"Love me?" I said playfully, pushing my forehead against his.

The underlying factor that made our relationship what it was even when it shifted so drastically emotionally and physically.

"Always," Ash ran his hands through my blue, splayed hair.

The thing that made it such that whatever happened, wherever we were, however we felt, we would be ok.

"You're so warm," Ash said offhand. "I hope it's ok that I'm always cold."

"What?" I stared at him in disbelief. "You've always been the warm one! That's one of my favorite parts of cuddling with you."

We stared at each other, and then laughed.

"How do we figure out which one of us is the warm one?" I asked playfully.

Ash shrugged and smiled down at me. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

"No," I said, smiling back and moving in to kiss him, "it really doesn't make a difference."

Because we would always be together.


End file.
